Local Art

I just recently moved to Jersey City Heights, and before that I lived in Hoboken for three years. I discover new things about the arts scene in north jersey every day, and it's totally inspiring to see so much going on that you can really only call 'cutting-edge'. And not sarcastically, as in "The scene in Williamsburg is totally 'cutting edge'." It's kind of exciting to be able to use the term in earnest.

Roland Ramos is big on the scene out here. We met through Art House and DeBaun Auditorium functions, two influential theater companies in Jersey City and Hoboken (respectively). Roland, along with his girlfriend Judy Nunez, are constantly surrounded by talent. It seems that wherever they go, art happens.

Roland's recent undertaking is the curation of an art exhibit at the Monroe Center for the Arts in Hoboken (720 Monroe Street) entitled "POLITrix: Art to Reflect the Current Political Climate," with co-curator Amy Bauer. Husband Don and I went to visit the gallery this past Friday night, and as we were there early, we had the run of the place. I love smart art, and this gallery was brimming with it.

There had been a monologue performance scheduled that night, but due to some mysterious incident outside the gallery, the performance of Red Tape Monologues was canceled although the art gallery was still open. As Don and I were adding our own embellishments to two paintings that had a bucket of crayons in front of them, and an invite to help finish them, another patron flagged us down.

As it happened, one of the performance artists, Some Woman, was there to visit the gallery. A small group of us coerced her to perform despite the actual show's cancellation. We piled onto some comfy chairs, and Some Woman delivered a sassy, enlightened monologue full of commentary on modern government. Art On Demand.

Roland is also in a reggae band, a talented musician and freestyler. He also hosts art and performance gatherings at the venue 4th and Jackson in Hoboken, showing off the movers and shakers of the art scene in north Jersey.

To find out a little more about him, check out his blog Artifactions. Pictures of the opening night party, and much of the artwork from POLITrix, can be found here.