Tropicalisms (Deborah Jack exhibition)

"The first frontier was the water’s edge, and there was a first moment, because how could there not have been such a moment, when a living thing came up from the ocean, crossed that boundary, and found that it could be breathe."

S. Rushdie

September 14, 2006 - January 14, 2007

This exhibition asks fundamental questions about the tropical landscape and how contemporary artists have used it in their work, either to subvert common (mis)conceptions or simply quote this scenery as part of an everyday experience. Exploring the history of the colonization of the New World as a land of savage and unexpected beauty, this exhibition rejects utopian visions of the tropical landscape that continue to mark their presence in contemporary tourist literature. Instead, artists explore the difficulties inherent in the development of this problematic reading of the tropical landscape.

Featured artists are: Manuel Acevedo, Matías Aguilar, Elia Alba, Adriana Arenas, William Armbruster, Nicole Awai, Terry Boddie, Norton Bush, José Camacho, Javier Cambre, Vladimir Cibyl Charlier, David Antonio Cruz, Jon Cuyson III, María Dominguez, Jeffrey Gibson, GULDSVEINEN (Monika Broz+Andrew Wilkson), Andre Juste, Vandana Jain, Deborah Jack, Kristina Jacob, Jeff Jacobson, G. Jerome, Rajkamal Kahlon, María Lau, Builder Levy, Miguel Luciano, Lynn Mullins, Joan Pamboukes, Wanda Raimundi-Ortíz, Gloria Rodríguez, Natalie Shook, Joseph Stella, Rhonda Tymeson, Mary Valverde, Juana Valdes, Raul Villarreal, Amy Wilson.

Jersey City Museum

350 Montgomery Street, Jersey City, NJ 07302

(at the corner of Monmouth Street)

Mass transit from Manhattan

Take the Newark or Journal Square PATH train to the Grove Street station in Jersey City. Exit the station and make a left (walk southwest) on Grove Street. Walk three blocks to Montgomery Street and turn right. Walk four blocks to the corner of Monmouth Street.