Art Studio To Resurrect Former Landmark New Jersey Mural
PATERSON, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) — A hulking mural that reigned as a landmark for decades in a northern New Jersey borough is making a comeback.
The 200-by-50-foot mural once mounted on the facade of a shuttered department store in Paramus will be on display for the first time in more than two decades next month, CBS2's Christine Sloan reports.
Officials say the mural has been in storage but will be moving to the Art Factory, an artists' studio space in Paterson, starting Thursday morning.
The menagerie of colors was made by Polish artist Stefan Knapp who painted it with a mop in an airplane hangar. It was placed on the facade of Alexander's department store, which opened in 1961.
"We are going to take these tiles unwrap them and try to assemble them however we can so the public will be able to see them for the first time in 20 years," said Art Factory manager David Garcia.
These abstract tiles, enamel baked on steel, have historical significance.
"We didn't really have these department stores before and these directors were smart enough to know they had to do something as a public give back," said Dorothy Nicklus, Bergen Museum of Art and Science.
The store closed in 1992 and several years later the mural was dismantled.
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