Absolution

Artist and culture promoter Marcus Wise’s 464 Gallery on Amherst Street was one of the first signs of a cultural uptick in Black Rock. For two years running his enterprise has been named “Best Up-and-coming Art Space” by the readers of the very newspaper printing these words. Wise has consistently filled his gallery with artists and patrons who can expect imaginative art, professional production values, and a fine spread of food and drink throughout the course of an opening evening. Art goers yo-yoing up and back from Allentown to Black Rock, depending on which destination venues stay open the latest, often find themselves at 464 gathering to watch the sunset from the backyard patio.

Presently the work of Joe Bajus, Jr. dots the wall with finely articulated drawings in both ballpoint pen and colored marker. The son of Jozef Bejus and Olga Bujusova, Bajus is certainly influenced by his parents, both accomplished artists in their own right, but not slavishly so—more in clarity of concept and elegance of execution. His understated scenes of science-fictional fantasy depicting exoskeletal beings and spindly cabalistic undersea creatures owe something to Swiss surrealist Hans Ruedi Geiger, but without the sexual fetishistic edge.

This is Bajus’s first time exhibiting his art in public. He has chosen to mark his original work “NFS”—not for sale—though there are a number of images for purchase in reproduction.