upcoming exhibitions:

Space in Time
Exhibition by Sandro Janin, Sam Pullin, Paula Serrano & Jimena Vega

Opening Reception:

Saturday 4/6/24 @7pm

Gallery Hours: Tues. - Sat: 10:00am – 4:00pm Free to the public, by appointment only

(Guttenberg NJ) Guttenberg Arts Gallery is pleased to present Space in Time, an exhibition by Winter 2024 artists in residence Sandro Janin, Sam Pullin, Paula Serrano and Jimena Vega.  On view from April 6th ­— May 6th, 2024 at the Guttenberg Arts Gallery with an opening reception on Saturday April 6th, 7pm - 9pm.  Guttenberg Arts Gallery is open by appointment only Tuesday - Sunday, 10am - 4pm and anytime, virtually on our website. Patrons can schedule their visit or view the virtual gallery by going to guttenbergarts.org/exhibitions.

Sandro Janin is a painter and printmaker. In his artwork, he blends abstraction with figurative elements, drawing inspiration from his imagination, memories, experiences, and historical context. He states “I visualize stories, humanity, feelings, desires, ideas, and spirits. Each piece becomes a unique exploration, translating these elements into a visual language that invites viewers to engage with the complexity and richness of the narratives embedded within. I initiate my artworks with a singular shape or figure in mind, exploring a vast expanse of creative possibilities. The object serves as the starting point for a three-step process involving the unconscious, subconscious, and conscious mind within my creative journey. The initial phase involves the unconscious mind, acting as a muse, offering endless possibilities. I sketch various shapes and lines based on automatization resulting in abstract compositions when the process is finalized.

The freedom of possibilities begins to narrow with the subconscious mind. Material from the unconscious undergoes a Rorschach test treatment. Drifting within imagination, memories, and reality, my imagination shapes forms drawn from the unconscious, while memories spark potential narratives for the composition. The subconscious directs the composition, providing hints about what figures, objects, or places could be or become. The aspect of surprising myself while creating fills me with joy. Many of the subconscious sketches may be recycled and used after several months if instant perspective or an idea is unclear. Time serves as the solver of these puzzles.

The final step involves my conscious mind defining the collective narrative and filtering elements for the artwork. Organization and reasoning dominate yet creativity is vital based on the materials I work with. While the majority of ideas originate from the subconscious and unconscious, the conscious mind explores possibilities, expanding the idea toward more complex image-making. Composition, shapes and figures get redesigned as the quantity of figures rises, the narrative expands further.

Sam Pullin’s work centers on urban life, alienation, social decay, and hegemonic cultural dynamics in America and beyond. He states “Having grown up in Jersey City at a time when it was branded as unlivable, rather than marketed as desirable, I aim to capture my personal past through the symbolic portrayal of universally lived experiences, drawing a line between those individual representations and the social, political, and economic structures that define us. I also include satire or surreal elements in my work to draw attention to the existential absurdities contained in these societal processes. In addition to the urban exploration of my miscreant youth, my day job as a land survey technician takes me to a variety of hauntingly beautiful, utilitarian, and disgusting industrial and natural landscapes. I also seek to bring these often forgotten or ignored environments into my paintings. I work mostly in oil on canvas, but also create murals and sculptures.”

Paula Serrano gains inspiration from nature and her artwork reflects this in a dreamlike manner. She states, “Throughout previous years I have explored nature and spray paint symbiotically. While my love for hiking lead me deep into the woods I also found the perfect canvas in nature and solitude. I have always felt safe alone in the woods. The woods gifted me for endless practice for my art. Through this process I found others that were too inspired by my work. I have since traded the forest for small businesses and bring nature to them through my art. Sometimes my work reflects abstract elements that reflect nature and sometimes those elements are exaggerated by my imagination. “

Jimena Vega is a weaver. Descendent of Andean women, she uses visual art, architecture, and communal conversation to untangle intergenerational trauma and weave threads of connection. She asks, which threads have been cut? Which threads do we need to tend to again? The threads that connect us to our bodies; the threads that connect us to our dreams; the threads that connect us to nature; and the threads that connect us to each other. Her visual art is an invitation to remember what colonialism would have had us forget: our desdendance from wild women; the visual and symbolic images communicated to us by animals; and the infinitely expansive consciousness to which we all belong.

Jimena’s invitation is not only to witness but to participate. Through art-making and communal conversation, she helps other women connect again to themselves, to their sacred femininity, to the natural world that gave it to them, and to the limitless individual and collective power we all have to create and sustain another balanced, beautiful reality.

Exhibition: April 6, 2024 - May 5, 2024; Opening Saturday April 6th. Schedule your visit by going to www.guttenbergarts.org/exhibitions  For more information please contact russ@guttenbergarts.org or 201-868-8585. Guttenberg Art Gallery is free and open to the public by appointment only.

Guttenberg arts is located at

6903 Jackson St. Guttenberg NJ