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originally published: 07/06/2022

(JERSEY CITY, NJ) -- In celebration of Jersey City PRIDE month and in partnership with Mana Contemporary and the Office of Cultural Affairs in Jersey City, the Art House Gallery presents “Not The End of The World…Yet”, a solo exhibition of new work by Donna Kessinger from August 4-28, 2022 at Mana Contemporary, 888 Newark Avenue, Studio 351, 3rd Floor. Reception to be held on Thursday, August 4th from 5:00pm to 7:00pm. Curated by Andrea McKenna, viewings will be by appointment on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 12pm to 5pm. Please only contact Andrea McKenna at gallery@arthouseproductions.org to set up an appointment.

“Donna’s work embodies a timeless serenity that will capture your attention from a distance. Almost posing as futuristic landscapes, the work seems familiar yet not recognizable as traditional. It will pull you in and allow your senses to create a new reality,” says Gallery Director, Andrea McKenna. 

“My paintings are a part of letting the world pass through me and onto the canvas. The process changes slightly with new technologies but has stayed the same for nearly 30 years, involving layering of unfocused abstract imagery, textures or following the light in my studio, removal, sealing it with wax or in recent work leaving the images exposed. During 2021, I had the luxury of time to spend on the new series of mid-sized works deeply layered with water based oils, traditional oils, wax mediums, house paint, and spray paint. The paintings are on linen along with 3 additional grid based painted series on smaller canvases. They say everything and nothing at all,” says artist, Donna Kessinger. 

The Art House Gallery shows are always free and open to the public. Private viewings will be by appointment on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 12pm to 5pm. Please only contact Andrea McKenna at gallery@arthouseproductions.org to secure a time to view the work.

The show will also be available online in August at arthouseproductions.org. For online art sales, Art House offers free delivery to any address in Jersey City and Hoboken. 

Donna Rae Kessinger, a working Artist and Curator based in the New York Metro Area, encourages collaboration between her emerging artists and their communities. Kessinger’s focus is mainly on projects that result in a marriage of art and commerce in the form of possible interventions, performative works, and public art projects which also can be seamlessly executed into traditional gallery exhibitions. Early in her career Donna Rae was mentored by Marsha Tucker, Alanna Heiss, Jenny Dixon and Kate Millett. She is deeply familiar with operations relating to Womyn’s Artist Colonies ranging all the way from top tier to smaller museums, traditional galleries and Alternative Art Spaces. Her feminist media based video artwork, has been cloned and archived on Rhizome’s Artbase at the New Museum. Her work is live on http://artfem.tv/documentary/ and has been screened at the Jersey City Museum of Art. Kessinger’s art which was created for the 1996 REPOhistory Entering Buttermilk Bottom Project, is archived by NYU Fales Library and Special Collections. Since the late 80’s her paintings have been collected by curators, other artists and writers. Donna Rae Kessinger’s paintings represent the mental space as it travels somewhere between dreams and memories while easily flowing into forgetfulness and beyond. Her chunky surfaces are built up slowly, removed bit by bit and manipulated over and over, again and again. In doing so, her process becomes a meditation with no direction in mind. To achieve this work she uses traditional and water based oil paints, liquitex spray paint, house paint, household items as stencils and wax mediums on linen and canvas board.

Anchored by cultural centers in Jersey City, Chicago, and Miami, Mana Contemporary is a distributed institution, dedicated to celebrating the creative process, supporting artists, and serving as a bridge between creative hubs worldwide.Through a global community committed to mutual support and progressive thought, Mana Contemporary offers world class exhibitions, residencies, career development, and conversation in person and online. Practitioners specializing in a variety of disciplines work alongside each other in forward-thinking environments that foster experimentation, collaboration, and mutual inspiration, building a profound and personal approach to contemporary art.

Art House Productions is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization committed to the development and presentation of the performing and visual arts in Jersey City, NJ. Art House Productions presents theater, performing and visual arts festivals, art exhibitions, and provides adult and youth art classes.  

Art House Productions is generously supported by The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, SILVERMAN, The Princeton Area Community Foundation, The Hudson County Office of Cultural Affairs, The KRE Group, The City of Jersey City and The Jersey City Office of Cultural Affairs, and The New Jersey Theatre Alliance. 

PHOTO: Donna Kessinger, narcissi (gaslit) - water-based and traditional oils, house paint, raw pigments, wax medium, Liquitex spray medium on canvas_48_x36 - $5,000 - 2021

 

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