- Works in “Prisoner Art for Social Justice,” the inaugural exhibition at the New Gallery at John Jay College. (Philippe Theise)
“Prisoner Art for Social Justice,” an exhibition of mostly paintings at the New Gallery at John Jay College, offers windows into the imaginations of 11 men incarcerated in two Pennsylvania prisons.
The exhibition, on display through October 19th, also brings realism and portraiture into the striking modernity of the college’s New Building on 59th Street and 11th Avenue.
Art for Justice, a nonprofit organization seeking to stimulate discussion about improving the criminal justice system, lent the pieces, which comprise the gallery’s inaugural show. The works depict both the threat and reality of imprisonment, as well as visions of freedom that transform and transcend the ordinary.
“These are men who never get to be heard outside of prison. They never get to express themselves, [their] deepest thoughts and feelings,” said Dr. Lisa Farrington, chair of the college’s department of Art and Music, who fought to secure space for the gallery.
The paintings of Art for Justice’s co-founder Charles Lawson anchor the exhibition.
“Life in Pennsylvania: Are You Comfortable Yet?” greets visitors with the unadorned image of an inmate sitting in a wooden electric chair, partially obstructing the word “commonwealth” in the background.
Lawson’s “What it is like to be Me” portrays a man in a hooded jacket who seems aware of an uncertain, unkind fate. But “Maroons” mixes history and fantasy, layering images of a man in a pinstriped suit, three women wearing kerchiefs, and part of a luminous planet. The figures may be real or imagined forebears; the planet may be a real or imagined earth.
Another image shows a man’s face growing into the jungle around him. Butterflies form on his face, which emerges from green leaves.
Lawson is currently fighting a sentence of life without parole, and all but one of the artists in “Prisoner Art for Social Justice” are serving life sentences or are sitting on death row.
In two adjacent paintings, Daniel Gwynn depicts adolescents who must choose between academics and street life. In one work, a boy fixes his gaze forward while prostitution and a dice game take place to his left; in another, a crack vial and a pile of schoolbooks sit on opposite sides of a thin yellow line.
The show’s most arresting piece may be Van Mastrigt’s “Escape,” a precise rendering of brick apartment buildings and zig-zagging fire escapes as seen through a window. Mastrigt’s care in delineating each brick speaks of his reverence for the world outside.
In “The Cell,” Luiz David Gonzalez uses ground coffee to create the bare interior of a cell that seems more medieval than modern. It too stands out.
The exhibition is not the only one currently up on campus. Selections from photographer Jill Freedman’s late 1970s series, “Street Cops,” hang in the President’s Gallery in Haaren Hall. The stark images form a timely counterpoint to the works of the imprisoned artists an elevator ride away.
Walking between shows, Farrington spoke about the importance of showing art at John Jay, a liberal arts institution that focuses on criminal justice.
“This is the future of the justice system,” she said, referring to the student body. “They need to understand the people they’ll be defending and prosecuting.”
Dr. Lisa Farrington, chair of the department of Art and Music at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, sits in the campus’s New Building on 59th Street and 11th Avenue. Farrington helped establish the art gallery in the building. (Philippe Theise)