Forbidden doors open at Cathedral Arts Gallery june 1993

 

 

Art and its connection to spirituality is one of the central themes of paintings to be displayed at the Cathedral of Arts Gallery at Grace Church. A solo exhibition by Cuban-born artist Raul Villarreal will run from June 19 to July 27.

While grounded in reality, Villarreal's work is mystical in execution and is described as "magic realism" or "paintings of the fantastic." Villarreal's work is based on Latin American artistic tradition. His portraits feature ordinary people in extraordinary situations.

The subjects in Villarreal's paintings look inwards towards the interior landscape of the soul. Spiritual symbols and mythological metaphors merge to portray the human spirit.

Included within the exhibition are three of Villarreal's most recent works. "Ayagguna" represents a new direction in his use of symbolic imagery, while "Knocking on Forbidden Doors" and "Oba-Moro" incorporate African-Cuban imagery as Villarreal explores his own ethnic heritage and human spirituality.

The "Forbidden Doors" exhibition is Villarreal's fourth one-man show and is curated by Ahn Behrens and Peter Bill in association with Cooper Gallery. It is the third show in a series of art exhibitions at Grace Church in Jersey City. The public is invited to meet Villarreal at the opening reception on Saturday, June 19 from 6 to 9 p.m. The Church is located on the corner of Second and Erie streets. <197>ADS



email to Al Sullivan

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Peter Bill is obsessed with color

Image
  I missed the opening for Peter Bill's "Color Obsession" at Traders of Babylon Art Gallery last Friday night, but not for want of trying. I just hadn't expected to find a gallery behind a jewelry store. Standing in front of the window an hour before the scheduled event, I could find so indication there was a show inside. Two days later, in daylight, I saw the foot-square cardboard sign taped up on the glass of a closed doorway next door, a nonchalant comment saying people should use the jewelry store doorway. Beneath it was the geometric swirl of purple and blue that the galley had been using to advertize the show. Inside, an 8 by 12 inch version was on sale, framed and unframed with the title "Two, too."   The jewelry store door opened with an electronic buzz as the gallery attendants combined jewelry business with their art display, leading me into the back room where vivid colors blazed from the walls like strobe lights.   Friday night's opening ...
Read more

Hudson Reporter Archive

Image
  I started reporting for the Hudson Reporter in November 1992. These are some of the stories that I wrote from that date until I left the paper in 2018. In 2019, the new owners shut down the paper and made the archives inaccessible. So, I'm posting my works here. Because of changing technology, computer issues and such, I don't have all of the stories from early on -- especially 1992-1994. But I kept some. A number of these stories were collected in a volume published by Rutgers University in 2001. Hudson Reporter stories 1992 email to Al Sullivan
Read more

Toy soliders march on 1993

Image
    published, Weehawken Reporter, 1993                   Toy soldiers aren't for kids any more, or so says James Delson, owner and operator of the Toy Solider Company in Jersey City. He is the largest seller of toy soldiers in the United States. Although his cusomters are adults, his business is good.                 "The stress is on playing, not collecting," he said, "though we dod tell peole they can rebuild the collection mother threw out when they went into the army or college."                 After nine years in the business of marketing toy soldiers, Delson has learned that two things sell: something new or something people had as kids.                 Toy so...
Read more