(JERSEY CITY, NJ) -- Art House Productions presents new work by Art House’s own Gallery Director, Andrea McKenna, in the Art House Gallery, September 8th through October 1st, 2023. In this exhibit, which will also be a part of JC Fridays, McKenna will present new work created since January of this year. Her installation is about transcending identity, loss, and the realm of the beyond. The exhibit was curated by Lucy Rovetto.
Guest Curator Lucy Rovetto says Andrea McKenna is a designer of spaces and moods, and her new one-person show: Disintegration is no exception. McKenna subtly challenges the viewer to face the truth about living, that is, living with loss. For this “Installation,” McKenna adds the effects of fire to her layers of burlap, plaster, cheesecloth, stain, acrylic, and welding slag. In her unapologetic way, the artist invites us to go to our dark places as on a search through rubble after a tragedy. Hidden in the layers of burlap and mystery, we locate all that is precious and powerful in this artist’s work.
Andrea McKenna is an interdisciplinary artist focusing on painting and video making. After graduating from The School of Visual Arts she briefly pursued her degree in Illustration, then followed a path in set design, interning at Drew University’s Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey and Fordham College at Lincoln Center. After realizing this was not her dream, she went back to painting, and when she was accepted into a small gallery show in New Hope, Pennsylvania, she knew this was her path. McKenna then started exhibiting around Long Island, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
The evolution of her work brought her to create large-scale installations, incorporating found objects and using nontraditional materials in her practice. Her work became a bigger idea when she discovered her love for film. Andrea's painted figures are rooted in the spiritual realm, between death and the afterlife. Video-making adds additional layers to these concepts.
Work life led Andrea to become an interior Faux Finisher. After moving to Jersey City in 1999, she formed her own business: Videre Decorative Arts, which grew a client list spanning most of New Jersey. From March 2014 to September 2017, she co-founded and operated The Raven Gallery and Boutique with her best friend, Javiera Rodriguez, in downtown Jersey City. This gave the local community a place to show and sell their work and connect with their peers. Additionally, Andrea's involvement as a volunteer for Jersey City’s performing and visual arts non-profit, Art House Productions, brought her back into the world of set design, where she worked on several productions and became the lead designer for their largest fundraising gala, Snow Ball. In 2018, she was asked to curate for Art House's gallery and now serves as the Gallery Director.
Andrea resides in Fort Lee, New Jersey, with her husband and two rescue cats.
The opening reception will be held on Saturday, September 9th, from 5:00pm to 8:00pm, with a special preview and performance by dancer Miranda Dahl on Friday, September 8th (JC Fridays), at 7:00pm. Guests will be asked to gather outside in front of the gallery windows.
Regular gallery hours are Saturdays and Sundays from 1:00pm to 4:00pm.
All works will be for sale in the Art House Gallery at The Hendrix at 345 Marin Boulevard, Jersey City, NJ 07302. Art House Gallery exhibitions are always free and open to the public. Large print for all literature regarding our exhibitions and tactile and descriptive tours are available upon request. Email Andrea McKenna for more information at gallery@arthouseproductions.org.
Guest curator Lucy Rovetto is a Visual Artist and Curator. She has a BFA from NJCU with a specialization in Printmaking. Rovetto began art handling as an intern at the Jersey City Museum and was later gallery assistant at the Point Elliott Art Center in Mukilteo, Washington.
From 2008-2013, she worked as artist assistant to Anton Smit at Anton Smit Sculpture Park, Bronkhorstspruit, South Africa. From 2015-2019 she was Visual Arts Curator for Jersey City Theater Center. Since 2016 she has been an independent contractor, art handler, and preparator. In 2020 Rovetto served as juror for Apex Art. She recently curated “Blurred Time,” showcasing a group of ART150 artists at the Art150 Gallery.
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, arts events, visual art exhibitions, and adult and youth art classes.
Art House Productions is generously supported by The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Public Funds from the Jersey City Arts and Culture Trust Fund, The Jersey City Arts Council, The Princeton Area Community Foundation, SILVERMAN, KRE, CoolVines, The SVOG, The New Jersey Theatre Alliance, and The Hudson County Office of Cultural Affairs. A complete list of funders can be found on their website.
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