The Art House Gallery Presents TANGENTS, New Work By Miguel Cardenas

In celebration of Jersey City PRIDE month, the Art House Productions Gallery will present "TANGENTS", a solo exhibition of new work by Miguel Cardenas from August 1 to September 10 at Village West Gallery in Downtown Jersey City. Miguel Cardenas takes his style of collage construction to a new and exciting level, adding intriguing, three dimensional elements that further the conversation of his chosen historic references. An artist's reception will be held on Sunday, August 1 from 2pm to 6pm. The public are also invited to visit the show as part of JC Fridays on Friday, September 10 from 5pm-7pm.

Village West Gallery is located in downtown Jersey City at 331 Newark Avenue - seven blocks along Newark Avenue from the Grove Street PATH station, and about a mile from the Holland Tunnel. There are three stairs leading to the entrance of the gallery. The gallery is air conditioned. For questions about patron services and accessibility, please contact info@arthouseproductions.org.

Art House Productions Gallery shows are always free and open to the public. Private viewings are also welcomed by appointment. Email Gallery Director Andrea McKenna for more information or to schedule an appointment at gallery@arthouseproductions.org.

The show will be available online in August at www.arthouseproductions.org. For online art sales, Art House offers free delivery to any address in Jersey City and Hoboken. Orders from outside of Jersey City and Hoboken will be asked to split shipping costs with Art House.

Tan·gent: A straight line or plane that touches a curve or curved surface at a point, but if extended does not cross it at that point. Something only partially related to a main point, or something that verges slightly off-course in another direction after the point of convergence. He went off on a TANGENT...

"Like most of us, for better or worse, the events of this past year afforded me the time and solitude to think, work and reflect in ways that I otherwise may not have. Often my thoughts would focus on a relevant or current experience or concept that would then lead me to another abutting seemingly related idea - only then to diverge me in another direction or stream of thinking. This recent body of work, mostly done during the lockdown, attempts to embody this stream of consciousness or tangential thought process, both physically in its geometrical organization as well as figuratively in its diverse subject matter.

Although not all as heavy in content as shown in these examples, the wide- ranging subject matter of this collection attempts to explore threads of connections between the past and present- expressing a personal memory that hopefully will conjure up a collective memory as well," says Miguel Cardenas.

"Miguel's work is a maze of wonderment, with each piece being a history lesson of a particular time in American and World culture. With thought provoking images, sometimes humor, Miguel teaches us to find the meaning of the work beyond our first glance," says Gallery Director Andrea McKenna.

Jersey City born and resident Miguel Cardenas was trained as an architect and received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from Pratt Institute in 1986. After working in the field for a number of years, he continued his studies at Columbia University where he received his Masters' Degree in Advanced Architectural Design and Theory. Miguel currently practices as a free-lance architectural designer and pop artist and works full-time with autistic students at Dickinson High School's Special Education Department in Jersey City.

Miguel's digital and hand-cut collage/assemblages attempt to blur the line between art and design by creating a narrative of associations. Architectonic spatial concepts are applied by overlaying juxtaposing appropriated iconic images and text taken from art history, social history as well as pop culture. Miguel's work attempts to inhabit the ambiguous, interstitial space or grey zone that exists in between binary oppositions- where things are not "either/or", but "both/and".

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. For more information about Art House Productions, please visit the website at www.arthouseproductions.org.

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