Like an ocean liner or a flying saucer, Art House Gallery (345 Marin Blvd.) is full of portholes. These do not look out the sea or a starry sky. Instead, they’re peeks into a frosty netherworld — one that is brightly illuminated, but where the light is refracted through so much haze that it’s sometimes […]
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 inNarrate
The Earth Temple at SMUSH Gallery Rocks
The persuasive utility of lamentation is overrated. In America, we like to back winners. Cry too hard and people will assume that the milk is already spilled.  This has put environmentalist-artists in a bind. Anybody who cares about the fate of the earth has a lot to be sad about. But shows that lean too hard into desolation leave […]
Posted inVisual Arts
Art Against Disaster: “Colors of Hope” at IMUR
Those who live on the Anatolian peninsula are accustomed to getting a good shake. Two major slip faults run through the Turkish bedrock, both capable of delivering terrible shocks. Earlier this year, an earthquake leveled buildings and killed tens of thousands on both sides of the Turkey-Syria border. More than a million survivors were left […]
Posted inPerforming Arts
Nimbus Dance Takes on the Nation in “The New Americana”
No singer has ever felt more American than Sam Cooke. His music drew from genres designed by African-Americans to reflect their experience: blues, soul, gospel, rock and roll. Cooke made his sonic amalgam palatable to a mainstream audience through sheer force of talent, and by shaking hands with styles and sounds popular with white listeners. Like all […]
Posted inUncategorized
Rogue Waves April: Live Music (and Rocky Horror) in Jersey City
You many have heard recent reports of drag-averse states banning showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I take this as a personal insult to Jersey City. Rocky Horror wasn’t created here, but we’ve got a long history with the movie and its attendant phenomena, including some memorably gonzo screenings and performances in the Harsimus Cemetery. Sal Piro, the longtime […]
Posted inVisual Arts
Art in the Home and Studio: Lambert, O’Leary, and Evening Star
Looking at an abundance of artworks: that’s what makes the Studio Tour fun. But visiting artists’ houses during the Tour is almost as rewarding. Artists’ homes and studios often resemble the work the artists are doing, and a visit can feel like stepping into a painting. Private galleries and home studios exist at an intersection between architecture […]
Posted inVisual Arts
The Wonders of the Powerhouse Arts District in Four New Shows
Luis Muñoz Marin Boulevard is not considered a place where pedestrians go on purpose. Nevertheless, there’s a new Australian bakery just north of Morgan Street, and a café, open air seating, and a bandshell outside of the big tower on the northwest corner of the Bay Street intersection. Right in between the two, Art House Productions has […]
Posted inVisual Arts
Cheryl Gross Comes Out Swinging at Lemmerman Gallery
There aren’t too many cowgirls in Jersey City. But it’s probable that everybody in Jersey City has an idea about what a cowgirl acts like. A cowgirl is strong, resilient, direct, and maybe righteously impertinent, too. She’s is nobody you’d want to mess with, lest you get tangled up in a lasso or threatened with […]
Posted inVisual Arts
Art Fair 14C Moves to Liberty State Park, Absorbs JCAST
For its fifth year, Art Fair 14C has a new home. The rapidly expanding fair, which ran at the waterfront Hyatt in 2020, the Glass Gallery at Mana Contemporary in 2021, and the Jersey City Armory in 2022, moves to another picturesque setting in 2023: the CRRNJ Terminal in Liberty State Park. If you follow the […]
Posted inVisual Arts
Six Rewarding Gallery Shows on View in Jersey City
If you attended JC Fridays, you know: we’re currently in a time of riches. There are rewarding shows on view all over town. It won’t always be this way. So in the interest of getting you out on the town while the offerings are hot, I’m breaking this down as simply as I can. Why are these […]