Current exhibition: A Clown and His Friends
Thrift Store Art from the McKinney Arts Collection
On view from September 10 - October 8, 2025
A Clown and His Friends is the 4th exhibition in the new McKinney Arts exhibition space in Belleville, NJ. The gallery is in a private residential setting, so viewings are by appointment only.
Art works from A Clown and His Friends, as shown from left to right, are as follows:
- Untitled (Man with Hat and Beard), unknown artist, unknown date. 18 1/2 x 14 1/2 (framed) embroidery.
- Untitled (Nude with Rose), date unknown, label on back says "John A. Tomaszweski." 16 x 12 inch painting with oil on canvas board.
- Untitled (Clown), date unknown, signed front and back "Richard" (unreadable last name). 30 x 23 inch (framed) painting with oil and mixed media on board.
- Untitled (Majorette and Marching Band), unknown artist, unknown date. 18 x 14 inch painting with oil on canvas board.
- Untitled (Baseball player), unknown artist, unknown date. 18 x 16 inch (framed) drawing with pencil on paper, framed.
To view the exhibition in person, or to inquire about purchasing art, please contact McKinney Arts.
Press Release: McKinney Arts presents A Clown and His Friends, Thrift Store Art from the McKinney Arts Collection, the 4th exhibition in the new gallery located in the ground floor space of artist/curator Mark McKinney's townhouse. Due to the residential nature of the location (Belleville, NJ), viewings of exhibitions are by appointment only.
A Clown and His Friends includes five artworks purchased by Mark McKinney at thrift stores and antique stores over the years. The decision to buy each work was based on a specific detail that McKinney found appealing, endearing, or humorous.
The old man with the hat and beard was found in a dirty and dusty thrift store in Ellenville, NY (read a blog post about it here), and the archetype of a man wearing a Bavarian hat appealed to McKinney with his German heritage.
The nude with rose was found in an antiques store in West Orange, NJ, and the cheesy pose of the nude - just laying on a rug on the floor - allowed the imagination to run of some artist inviting a woman friend to pose, and telling her to get on the floor, which is a weird location for a pose. The imagination also includes the concept that the artist might have thought: "I'll have her holding a rose, that will make it classy!!" The humor of this scenario led McKinney to make the purchase.
The clown painting was a long sought-after genre that McKinney had considered in numerous antique shops and thrift stores. The nature of this one - found in New Paltz, NY - with the thick build-up of unknown material under the paint, making the nose an actual three-dimensional object - made the purchase of this piece a necessity.
The Majorette and the hazy background group of marching band members was also found in the same West Orange antiques store. This image was made endearing by the artist's mistake - and the fact that however the artist thought the depiction of the left foot was a mistake, rather than fixing it, just smeared the mistake out and left it as-is. The surrealist nature of the dreamlike background and this smear of a foot made it an obvious addition to the collection.
Lastly, the pencil drawing of a squinting baseball player made McKinney think of the baseball cards of his youth, where certain players were often photographed in unflattering close-ups. Found in an antiques store in Minneapolis, this baseball player with the "B" hat (for Brooklyn Dodgers?) may have found himself far from his home, and McKinney brought him back east.
A Clown and His Friends will be on view from September 10 - October 8, 2025. Inquiries about the exhibition, the art works, appointments, and more can be made here.
