‘Anonymous’ artists plan to crash the Art Walk planned for Friday night in Red Bank, displaying their works in unexpected places. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Friday night’s Art Walk in Red Bank, the latest in a series, comes with a twist: guerrilla displays of creativity.

With the blessing of Art Walk’s organizers, a group of artists who wish to remain anonymous plan to stage an alternative, if symbiotic show that’s off the map, both spacially and aesthetically.

One of the anonymous works that Art Walkers may encounter Friday night. (Click to enlarge)

“To your question about anonymous… it started as just an idea of creating art anonymously,” one of the nameless organizers tells redbankgreen in an email. “Then the art walk came up, and we thought it maybe we could create a whole alternative artwalk anonymously – with younger artists who need to opportunity to show their work.

“It’s a cool experiment in art and social media,” our nameless correspondent continued. “Being anonymous turns out to be a hinderance for this particular project, but it also creates sort of a buzzz–like, ‘Who is “Batman?”

A hinderance, that is, because the artists involved at first tried to get in on Art Walk, in which works are displayed in galleries, frame shops, photo studios and restaurants in the town’s two main commercial centers downtown and on Bridge Avenue. But they were late to the planning, and they got boxed out.

Then they tried to get landlords of other properties to make space available, but quickly dropped that plan.

“We weren’t getting much traction with the ‘connecting artists with venues approach,'” Anon E. Mous wrote. “So we are going ahead with a ‘Bring Art to the Artwalk’ project. We are encouraging artists to bring art to the artwork and hang it around town either anonymously or with credit – whatever they desire.”

Anonymous adds that the group, which has a Facebook page, is asking participants to “keep it legal, and not deface other people’s property. Want this to be enjoyable for everyone and not create a hassle.”

The group is also asking art patrons to tweet photos of their favorite pieces to @blankartgroup for retweeting.

Art Walk proper, which runs from 6 to 10 p.m., includes 15 venues, such as Frame to Please in the Galleria, which will feature a display of “Art & Authors,” including works by James Avati, one of the most successful paperback illustrators in the mid-to-late 20th century.

The event, which was dormant for several years, was revived in 2012, when three walks were held.

“Keeping quality high while expanding the Red Bank Art Walk is one of the committee?s highest priorities
and providing curators and artists to exhibiting businesses is just one strategy,” Robert Langdon, Gallery U curator and a lead organizer, says in a press release.

The the event is billed as self-guided, free guided Art Walk tours are available by trained docents. The tours begin at Gallery 135, at 135 Monmouth Street, 2nd floor, at 6pm and run every half hour. The last tour starts at 9pm.

Here’s the map: artwalk_map_only-1