Mall Culture: Sexy Tomato Wet

Newport Mall in Jersey City, late Sunday morning, when few people are around. Though it's not the people I'm interested in so much as it is the mall itself. What I'm wondering is just how, imagewise, as it were, this is different from an open house at Mana Contemporary? Oh, sure, lots of

obvious differences. And you can see real art at Mana like nothing you see at the mall. 

 And, for that matter, there is much at the mall that you wouldn't see at Mana. Of course, they're laid out differently. And, of course, the mall as more and, more obvious, cash registers. But, in the

Campbell's Soup can and the Chuck Close portrait (of Philip Glass), they share dynamics and resonance. How deeply does Mana understand the difference? Copy writing ≠ art criticism, though perhaps all too ofter artist's statement = ad copy.