On August 7, 2025, the City of Hoboken officially presented a new piece of public art titled Layers, created by local artist and photographer Jason Sagat. The ribbon-cutting took place inside the main lobby of Hoboken City Hall at 94 Washington Street, attended by Mayor Ravi S. Bhalla, members of the Hoboken Arts Advisory Committee, and the artist himself.
The mural features a large-scale photographic composition showing an individual standing on the pavers of the waterfront walkway at Pier A, looking out across the Hudson River. Drawing inspiration from Hoboken’s architectural elements and the abstract traditions of modern art, the piece was created using Sagat’s method of blending color, texture, and imagery.
- Hoboken unveiled Layers, a large-scale mural by local artist Jason Sagat in the main lobby of City Hall at 94 Washington Street.
- The mural depicts a layered photographic image of a person on Pier A’s waterfront walkway looking across the Hudson River, combining Hoboken’s architecture with abstract art traditions.
Layers was funded through a 2018 city policy requiring up to 1% of municipal bond ordinance funds to be dedicated to public art installations.
Artistic Style and Influences
Jason Sagat is a longtime resident of Hoboken. He is known locally for creating abstract urban visuals through photography. His work often combines multiple images to create layered, mosaic-like textures that convey movement and memory.
Sagat has cited inspiration from artists Wassily Kandinsky and Gerhard Richter. His approach examines the contrast between simplicity and complexity in daily life. He has described photography as an inherently historical act, in which each image is a moment fixed in time.
In “Layers,” these influences are visible through the overlapping of images and the incorporation of visual textures, resulting in a composition that presents a familiar Hoboken waterfront scene in an abstracted form.
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Selection, Display, and Funding
The Hoboken Arts Advisory Committee selected Layers for installation. It is now on permanent display in the historic lobby of City Hall, positioned beside the main staircase.
The mural was funded under a city policy established in 2018 through an executive order by Mayor Bhalla. The order directs that up to one percent of all municipal bond ordinance funds be allocated to public art installations throughout Hoboken.
