Even if Pamela Coleman “Pixie” Smith and A.E. Waite hadn’t designed the modern prototype of the Tarot deck in 1909, people would’ve still used cards to tell fortunes. It just wouldn’t have been as fun, or as illuminating, or as spooky. The Rider-Waite deck (which really ought to be called the Smith-Waite deck) concentrated mystical […]
Tris McCall
Tris McCall has written about art, architecture, performance, politics, and public culture for many publications, including the Newark Star-Ledger, the Bergen Record, Jersey Beat, the Jersey City Reporter, the Jersey Journal, the Jersey City Independent, and New Jersey dot com. He also writes about things that have no relevance to New Jersey. Not today, though.
Posted inVisual Arts
Strong Shows in Tight Corners at 150 Bay Street
There’s nothing inside Gallery number 265 at 150 Bay Street. It’s still easy to see into the room — those doors are made of glass — but these days, the only things visible in there are white walls and a brown cement floor. The blank space is a reminder of one of the more unfortunate occurrences […]
Posted inColumns
Anthony E. Boone Thrills at Commuter Gallery
I hope that Anthony E. Boone will not take it as a grievous offense when I suggest that his artwork could easily hang in a corporate atrium. (Perhaps it already does somewhere.) The sinuous quality of his lines, the soothing feeling of his juxtapositions of color, and his studied sense of composition add up to a […]
Posted inPerforming Arts
Rogue Waves February: Six Concerts and an Entreaty
It’s the first of the month, and that means we’ve got some more Jersey City shows to discuss. But before we do, I’ve got an urgent entreaty for you. If you’re in a band, or if you’re a rapper or a pop vocalist, or a local producer, or studio owner — if you’re involved in […]
Posted inVisual Arts
Jersey City Artists Show at Manhattan’s Ivy Brown Gallery
Call it coincidence or call it causal. Either way, it can’t be denied that the neighborhoods of Manhattan that are most saturated with art, and art galleries, are the easiest ones to access from Jersey City. The PATH train stops in Chelsea twice. The first platform in Manhattan is right on Christopher Street. Depending on […]
Posted inUncategorized
Color and Influence at New Shows at Firmament Gallery and Hamilton Square
Serious artists hope that their work will be influential. Few artists, however, would call themselves influencers. In 2023, we’ve come to understand the term as a bit of a slight. An influencer isn’t necessarily a creator. She’s a person who uses new media to compel her following to make a particular choice — a consumer choice. […]
Posted inColumns
Images of the City from Jim Fischer and Project Greenville
Jim Fischer loves snow. Pictures of it at least; the Jersey City artist may not appreciate shoveling it, but he’s a sure hand at depicting it. Snow swirls through the pleasantly proletarian “Forty-Eight Views of Brownstone Brooklyn” — a show that is exactly what it sounds like it would be. It lays heavily on the […]
Posted inVisual Arts
The Sacred Heart Beats Fiercely at the Curious Matter Holiday Show
True Christianity is not for the squeamish. Even the tamest versions of the faith ask believers to contend with a gruesome event: a human being nailed to a cross and left to suffocate in the sun. From the Pieta to the Passion to “The Last Temptation of Christ,” many famous works of art make Jesus’s suffering manifest […]
Posted inUncategorized
Rogue Waves January: Joe Bataan, CR and the Nones, Tom Barrett, Debra Devi, and More
Though it’s been imitated plenty of times since 1967, “Subway Joe” remains unique. Everything on the record jostles for attention like buskers in the subway. The piano and the Caribbean drums are blown out, distorted, and gleefully shoved into the red. Trumpets blare with impatience like car horns in rush hour traffic on Fifth Avenue. […]
Posted inFood and Fun
Liberty Science Center Resurrects the Musical Laser Show with “Laser Taylor Swift”
Taylor Alison Swift cannot be called psychedelic. She traffics in concrete scenarios and writes and performs with an emphasis on clarity. There’s not a lot of fluff in her songs, nothing is loose, and nobody jams. Everything exists to serve the story and the star. Swift has become world famous by matching tales of young […]