2000 Bananas

2000 Bananas: A JCAST Fundraiser

Leading up to the 34th Annual Jersey City Art and Studio Tour, New Jersey artists have been participating in the #2000Bananas fundraiser show, which supports the operating costs for JCAST.

“2000 Bananas” consists of hand painted or glazed ceramic bananas. To fire the bananas, Maneca has partnered with ceramicist Beth DiCara. Bananas start at $25 each and are available for immediate purchase.

A number of bananas have been painted by notable Jersey City artists, including the POWER POP TRIO, Dylan Egon, Fabricio Suarez, Andrea McKenna, Loura van der Meule, Frank Ippolito and others.

“2000 Bananas is a friendly jab at the current state of the Studio Tour,” says 14C’s JCAST director Tina Maneca. “While in its 34th year, it is bananas that many residents have never heard of or been to a JCAST show and that the budget for such an iconic Jersey City event is very limited. The idea for the show came to me when I jokingly said that we would need to have a good old fashioned bake sale to raise money.”

The show’s title and concept is also a tongue-in-cheek nudge to iconic images such as Andy Warhol’s silkscreen banana used on Velvet Underground’s 1967 album cover to, more recently, Maurizio Cattalan’s duct taped banana installation “The Comedian” at 2019’s Art Basel Miami.

#2000Bananas is on view now at Art 150 (157A 1st Street, Jersey City) through September. Gallery hours: Saturdays and Sundays,1 to 4 PM and by appointment.

Interested in buying or decorating a banana? Contact Tina Maneca, [email protected].

Artist bananas from left to right: Frank Ippolito, Melida Rodas, Loura Van Der Meule, Bill Rood, Athena Toledo and Robert Piersanti