River View Observer April 15-April 30, 2022

April 15-April 30, 2022

Volume 26 No. 4

Est. 1998

Hudson County’s Bi-Weekly-Cultural, Lifestyle and Entertainment Publication In This Issue

Hudson Happenings Online & On Premise

Pg. 3 & more

Pg 4

ARTScene

REAL ESTATE Pgs.10 Pgs.10--12

Gentlemen of Soul

Pierce Turner

Brooklyners

Ruby Bones*

Over 300 Artists, Crafters, Food Vendors, Local Businesses and more participating.

2 Stages of Live Performances See Pg.5

www.hobokenlock.com

*Ruby Bones ‍ Photo by Matt Cerisano

Art by Mike Pagano

The Counterfeiters

Kalsang Pottery

Art by Dillon Dunning

SEE PAGE 7

Eglentowicz see page 2 Exit On The Hudson Realty See pages 11-12

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The River View Observer Est.1998 Print-DigitalMobile -Direct Mail 201-349-4336 Published bi-weekly by Ad Vantage Publishing Inc Stadium Plaza 321 Route 440 Suite 3 #321 Jersey City, NJ 07305

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Page 2 April 15 -April 30, 2022 River View Observer

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ART 150 GALLERY PRESENTS JOHN RUDDY EXHIBIT : CELEBRATING A LIFE WELL LIVED

By Tris McCall John Ruddy loved the color orange. Not the pale baby-aspirin orange of a sunrise, or even the urban orange of traffic cones — the shade he liked best was the reddish-orange of the roaring blaze. The paintings on view at “John Ruddy: Celebrating A Life Well Lived” pulsate with vibrant color: magenta suns, egg yolk yellows, glowing ectoplasm greens, Papa Smurf blues.

It is Ruddy’s searing oranges, however, that make the most immediate impression. Sometimes he depicted fire outright.

Sometimes he simply suggested conflagration, with hot colors leaping and spreading from shape to shape as fires do. Even some of his frames have curled edges reminiscent

of flames. His retrospective exhibition sets the entire ART150 Gallery (150 Bay Street) ablaze.

Initially this seems logical. Ruddy, who died suddenly in December 2021 at 49, was a firefighter as well as a painter. He wasn’t a part-time alarmanswerer, either — Ruddy was a battalion chief in the Jersey City Fire Department. He was well acquainted with the danger of the roaring blaze.

Yet it might be surprising that a man whose business involved quenching fires should invest his depictions of fire with so much life. Ruddy’s flames are saw-toothed and spiketailed; they curve and snap and encircle his subjects, many of whom are fantastic creatures drawn from Indian and Near Eastern

mythology. Curator Andrea Morin’s show, presented by ProArts, reveals John Ruddy to be a complicated, prickly character, unafraid of a challenge, a born adventurer utterly uninterested in aesthetic caution.

His time in the Jersey City arts scene was similarly energetic. Ruddy never aspired to be shown in a staid gallery. Instead, he gravitated to the places where the action was. He was deeply involved

in the experimental arts movement that coalesced around the studios at 660 Grand Street; he imparted some rowdy flavor to the annual Studio Tours; his work hung at the late and lamented LITM, a bar and restaurant on Newark Avenue that shared his exploratory values. (Morin was, for many years, curator at LITM.) Wherever he exhibited, he offered a counterpoint to the restrained palette — with its muted blues, slate greys and rust-browns — of artists working in the Hudson County post-industrial style. Even the attentiongrabbing hues favored by our prominent street artists were too modest for him.

Instead, Ruddy arrests the eye with striking juxtapositions that approach the saturation of day-glo.

His lasting contribution to Jersey City arts might be his demonstration that aggressive use of color is no

impediment to harmony or storytelling.

Not all of these paintings work. Some of them are so busy and so bright that they become the visual equivalent of a blaring boombox. The image of Buddhas contemplating a smoke-belching oil rig feels more than a bit like an ironist’s political cartoon. But Ruddy’s art is so boisterously delivered that even his weaker pieces are never anything less than fun. And the stronger ones are hypnotic in their fantastic intensity. Shrouded Middle Eastern women flee black helicopters and grasping, glove-like formations of flames. Indian dancers kick up their heels around a shadowed cauldron. A deity with a skull on a staff and a noose in his hand stands atop a menacing pink bull.

Throughout the show, Ruddy demonstrates an Cont’d on page 9

Open Sunday April 3rd and April 10th 10am to 3pm

Visit our website for more Easter Gift Ideas www.leesimschocolates.com Page 3 April 15-April 30 ,2022 River View Observer

HUDSON HAPPENINGS

Ribbon-cutting ceremony for Bergen Point Boutique Bayonne:

Local elected officials joined owners Carissa and Shez at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Bergen Point Boutique. The boutique is a new retail space that will showcase a variety of local pop-up shops on a rotating basis at 174 Broadway in Bayonne. Deen Shop and Carrissa’s Closet (a Division of Reese’s Hair Pieces) will be permanent staples. Among those in the photo are Mayor Jimmy Davis, Council Member At-Large Juan Perez, and First Ward Council Member Neil Carroll.

Art House Productions Announces 2022 INKubator New Play Festival

Art House Productions is pleased to announce the INKubator New Play Festival from Sunday, May 8 - Friday, May 20 at Grassroots Community Space in Jersey City. The festival will feature playwrights from the 20212022 cohort, including Jake Brasch, Nay Harris, Justice Hehir, Riley Elton McCarthy,

captions or ASL interpreters, please email info@ arthouseproductions.org at least 2 weeks before the event. Photos of the venue can be found here: http://grassrootscommunityspace.com/wp/photosvideos. For questions about accessibility and patrons services, please email info@arthouseproductions.org.

INKubator is a yearlong generative process for a select group of 6 playwrights in residence at Art House Productions.

During the program, playwrights meet on a monthly basis alongside program director Alex Tobey to share new work, receive feedback, and develop a first draft of a new play.

The program culminates in a New Play Festival, where the playwrights work with professional directors and actors to hear the play read aloud for the first time. Casting will be announced at a later date.

Christian Mendonça, and Melissa Toomey.

Audiences who attend the festival will also have the opportunity to participate in conversations with the writers, directors, and actors during each performance.

All public readings are free for audiences and begin at 7:30pm EST, but advance registration is required: https://bit.ly/ INKubatorFestival2022.

Donations will be accepted towards supporting the INKubator Program at Art House Productions.

Grassroots Community Space is located at 54 Coles St, Jersey City, NJ 07302. All patrons must show proof of COVID-19 To read the entire article go to Vaccination at the door. www.riverviewobserver.net Masks are required for Did You Know...

There were two AI chatbots crepatrons.

The venue is wheelchair ated by Facebook to talk to each other, but they were shut down accessible (entrance on after they started communicat3rd Street), with air condi- ing in a language they made for themselves. tioning. To request open Now You Know...

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Page 4 April 15-April 30, 2022 River View Observer

HOBOKEN SPRING ARTS & MUSIC FESTIVAL 2022

Cont’d from cover

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Our Store Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesdy Friday 8am-5pm Thursday 8am -8pm /Saturday 9am -5pm Closed Sunday

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nce again the City of Hoboken will host their Hoboken Spring Arts & Music Festival for 2022.

This years event will have on hand Over 300 artists, crafters, food vendors, local businesses and more participating.

2 stages of live performances with some of the best acts in showbusiness.

PERFORMANCES BY: •IVAN JULIAN •PIERCE TURNER •GENTLEMEN OF SOUL •KRYSTAL •WIDELY GROWN •FRANKIE MORALES & THE MAMBO OF THE TIMES ORCHESTRA •RUBY BONES •MAX FEINSTEIN •THE COUNTERFEITERS •THE BROOKLYNERS

Max Feinstein

Bag made by Miryam Cera

Pottery by Corrine Carr

Bespoke Bacon Jam

We Now Sell Vanities

Frankie Morales & The Mambo of the Times Orchestra With over 300 artists and crafters, the Hoboken Spring Arts & Music Festival will have plenty to do, see and shop.

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Observer Highway & 7th St. 11am -6pm Sponsors: Burgiss, Suez Water, The Rockefeller Group, Muller Insurance, Ironstate www.hobokennj.gov/events/ hoboken-spring-arts-musicfestival-2022

Page 5 Apirl 15-April 30, 2022 River View Observer

SHOPPING FOR SPRING?

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646-578-2007 Page 6 April 15-April 30, 2022 River View Observer

Page 7 April 15-April 30, 2021 River View Observer

Page 8 April 15-April 30, 2022 River View Observer

HUDSON HAPPENINGS

John Ruddy Exhibit Celebrating A Life Well Lived

Now to April 30th, 2022 Sundays from 1pm to 4pm

Cont’d from page 3 interest in the human body in motion — and a solid understanding of how to pose those bodies in ways that suggest they mean business. He could have designed some terrific ac- Andrea Morin Currator of tion figures if he’d wanted John Ruddy: Celebrating a Life Well Lived to.

Pasta Night Special Available for Eat in Only

Choose from our delicious specials, pizza, desserts and more All from our varied menu Call Ahead for Takeout

The River View Observer publishes on the 1st and 15th biweekly send your community listings two weeks prior to your event to www.riverviewobserver@gmail.com for possible publication

The substantial turnout at the opening event on Sunday, April 3 was a testament to Ruddy’s well-earned local popularity. I was pleased to see that alongside the usual artsscene politicians and bespectacled aesthetes (your correspondent included) were John’s family and several Jersey City firefighters. Even in death, John Ruddy was drawing unexpected connections.

If You Go Presented by ProArts Jersey City at Art 150 Gallery 150 Bay Street Jersey City, NJ

NOW OPEN IN DOOR DINING &TAKEOUT Family Owned 48 Years www.laicosjc.com

Firemen from John Ruddy’s Firehouse Engine 9, JCFD attend Opening Reception on April 3, 2022 of John Ruddy: Celebrating a Life Well Lived

Battalion Chief John Ruddy served with the Jersey City Fire Department for 28 Years

Attending the Reception for the Opening of John Ruddy: Celebrating a Life Well Lived members of John’s family, his wife, Geeta (Nee Purohit )(Gray sweater) Daughter, Asha Grace Ruddy (Black sweater) Mother Grace Fallacara (Green sweater) Father, John Ruddy(Ret. BC JCFD) (standing behind Grace) John’s brother, Stephen Liberto (standing in back) and his Uncle, ( Far left) Vito Fallacara, Aunt Dee Poremski (Pink sweater) and ( Far right) cousin Russell Fallacara

River View Observer Supporting the Arts Since 1998

Page 9 April 15-April 30, 2022 River View Observer

REAL ESTATE & REAL ESTATE RELATED BUSINESSES

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Page11-April 15-April 30, 2021 River View Observer