COMMUNITY GALLERIES

Tree of Hope: Celebrating Black History Month

Overlook Medical Center
January 21–April
Mic Check by Justin Cepeda (2024) is a 16 x 20 inch acrylic, paint marker, and alcohol marker painting made on canvas. It features a black man in colorful streetwear and chunky, silver jewelry singing into a mic.

Justin Cepeda, Mic Check, 2024, Acrylic, paint marker, and alcohol marker on canvas, 16 x 20 inches

Organized by the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey in collaboration with Overlook Medical Center, this exhibition brings together the artwork of New Jersey-based artists Justin Cepeda and Oscar Peterson. The works in this exhibition highlight both artist’s unique styles, and their use of portraiture as a means to explore themes of personal, racial, and national identity.

Justin Cepeda is a contemporary artist whose dynamic works blend the vibrant energy of abstract, contemporary, and pop art. Although his passion for art began early in life, Justin’s creative journey took a profound turn after the passing of his younger brother Robert. Since rediscovering art as a therapeutic outlet, Cepeda’s talent has earned him recognition, including placing 3rd at the Plainfield Art Festival. His work is currently featured in Make It Pop, an exhibition at Curate NJ in Raritan, New Jersey.

Residing in Millburn, New Jersey, Oscar Peterson is an art director, designer, and illustrator, and commissioned fine arts painter specializing in portraiture. He is an alumnus of Pratt Institute and The Art Students League of New York, and his paintings can be found in corporate, private, and museum collections nationwide.

A print titled We Too by Oscar Peterson (2020). It is a 36 x 24 inch Giclée print of a Revolutionary War soldier holding his gun. Behind him hangs the 13-colony American flag.

Oscar Peterson, We Too, 2020, Giclée print, 36 x 24 inches

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