New Jersey arts and entertainment news, features, and event previews.

(WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ) — The Monmouth University Center for the Arts presents “Fine Art Conversations” and a screening of Miriam Beerman: Expressing the Chaos to add an interactive component to the exhibition closing day event Sunday, December 11 from 12:00pm–4:00pm. 

The exhibition showcases Beerman (1923–2022) as one of the 20th-century’s most provocative artists, whose humanist expressionist works highlight her talent as a colorist. A pioneer as one of the first female artists to be given a solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Beerman is part of a canon of 20th-century women artists who were nearly lost to obscurity due to their gender in a male-dominated art world.

Miriam Beerman: Expressing the Chaos, a 53-minute documentary about Beerman and her works, will be shown within the exhibition space in the Rechnitz Hall DiMattio Gallery in the Monmouth University Center for the Arts on December 11, the exhibition’s closing day. A screening of the film will begin at noon, followed by a reception from 1:00pm to 4:00pm, which will include informal conversations with guest curator James Yarosh of James Yarosh & Associates Gallery in Holmdel, New Jersey. The film will continue to be shown throughout the reception hours in an adjoining space.

Now through the end of the show, individuals and small groups can book appointments for “Fine Art Conversations” with Yarosh. The “Conversations” provide a unique opportunity to explore Beerman’s work more in-depth and engage in intimate conversations about the nearly 20 large-scale canvases being shown.

Motivated by the social injustice seen around her, Beerman shines a spotlight on the horror and pathos of man’s inhumanity to man. While her voice is strong and her artistic vision singular, what makes Beerman a pioneer is her empathetic wisdom and indomitable will to expand dialogues through her art. With the exhibit’s re-examining of her work and Yarosh’s sensitivity to storytelling in curation, the themes prove to be timeless, resonating today as much as they did when they were created in the 20th century.

“Part of the joy of my work as a gallerist is sharing my discoveries about the art with others,” Yarosh says. “For example, during a recent conversation, visitors and I discussed how Miriam had the ability to turn empathy into art. As a master colorist, and someone who used all of her physicality in her creation of art, she focused on humanistic subjects as someone whose role was to bear witness of her times. In Miriam’s hands, subjects of mankind — man vs. the world — were transformed into a storytelling of the shared experiences inclusive of men, women and children. This world also included a special sensitivity to animals and a call for humans to acknowledge their responsibility to all living things and the effects our actions have upon them.

“The expansion of such vantage points result in a more nuanced dialogue within the paintings,” Yarosh continues. “As primal as Miriam’s art is at times, she always finds beauty within the darkness. It’s all there for the seeing; you just have to look past the armor of Miriam’s unapologetic identity as a born artist who isn’t asking to be liked, but only to be respected. Her art is that of an intellectual, and she represents an artist in battle, one who with great discipline constantly charged forward using her mind to lead the way.”

Yarosh says when one views Beerman’s colossal paintings — “heavy with paint, laden with subject” —people cannot help but be moved. “When you see these humanist expressionist works existing silently, holding the weight of the world, you begin to understand the gallery’s presentation,” explains Yarosh, a gallerist who has been fueled by curatorial activism in recent years.

“As I described Miriam’s art with clients, it occurred to me that those words also described the role of female artists of the 20th century whose voices were stifled in favor of male artists — and of women’s roles in a patriarchal society,” he says. “If our art history is male-dominant, and the artists before us our teachers, we are only getting half the lessons to be learned. We have an opportunity to do better. This presentation with Monmouth University allows the conversations to continue and include a younger generation.”

An exhibition catalogue for Miriam Beerman: 1923–2022 NOTHING HAS CHANGED, available on request, features contributions by NYC gallerist Mitchell Algus, artist Heather L. Barone (a mentee and longtime assistant of Beerman) and Corey Dzenko and Theresa Grupico in the Monmouth University Department of Art & Design. View the catalogue here.

To book an appointment for “Fine Art Conversations at Monmouth University,” contact Yarosh at jamesyarosh@yahoo.com or visit www.jamesyarosh.com. The James Yarosh Associates Fine Art & Interior Design Gallery in Holmdel is open every Saturday from 12:00pm to 4:00pm and by appointment. A concurrent exhibit of Miriam Beerman’s work on paper and collage art is also on display as part of the gallery’s HOLIDAY SHOW with expanded open house on December 3 and 4 from 12:00pm to 4:00pm and December 10 from 12:00pm to 4:00pm.

Miriam Beerman studied painting at the Rhode Island School for Design, where she earned a BFA. Afterward, she spent two years in France as a Fulbright Scholar, working in Atelier 17 and having her painting critiqued by Marcel Brion. In New York, she studied with Yasuo Kuniyoshi at the Art Students League and Adja Yunkers at the New School for Social Research. She has had over 30 solo shows, including at the Brooklyn Museum, the New Jersey State Museum and the Everson Museum.

Beerman’s work can be seen in many major collections, including Metropolitan Museum, Whitney Museum, LACMA, National Gallery of Art, Phillips Collection, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Fitzwilliam Museum in England,  the MEAM in Spain, the Israel Museum and soon the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Beerman’s painting “Scorpio” is also currently on display as part of The Vault  Show exhibit at University of Arizona Museum of Art through Fall 2022.

With the opening of the Joan and Robert Rechnitz Hall at Monmouth University, the creation of the DiMattio Gallery was also celebrated. Dedicated in 2013, the DiMattio Gallery is named in tribute to Professor Vincent DiMattio, a teacher and artist at Monmouth University since 1968. This two-story state-of-the-art gallery offers nearly 2,000 square feet of exhibition space. In addition to presenting student exhibitions, the DiMattio Gallery has recently showcased exhibits including “Bruce Springsteen, A Photographic Journey,” as well as Jacob Landau and Robert Mueller collections.

Established in 1996, the James Yarosh Associates Gallery in Holmdel, New Jersey, was founded upon and remains loyal to its vision: to represent fine art for art’s sake and to curate gallery collections and thoughtfully present art and interior design specification with an artist’s eye and understanding. Yarosh, an artist and well- published interior designer, offers a full-scale gallery and design center where clients can associate with other like-minded individuals located just one hour outside Manhattan.

As a designer, Yarosh travels the world, studying how the greatest museums display their art and visiting artists’ homes to understand how the artists themselves live with their art. This study on both a grand and small scale, helps inform Yarosh’s work with his clients. His unique approach—coupled with his work in show houses and experience in large-scale residential design projects of over 20,000 square feet—has led to his designs being featured in regional and international magazines.

Yarosh advocates for what greatness looks like in the arts, showcasing at his destination gallery the works of both new and established museum-recognized artists of merit in a space designed to replicate the intimacy of an artist’s home. Current exhibitions such as Miriam Beerman – REDISCOVER (2022), The Humanist Show (2021), Sheba Sharrow: History Repeats (2020) and the NYC art fair Art on Paper (2021) help foster the idea of art as intellectual engagements that sit above decoration in design hierarchy, adding exponentially to the experience of living with art.