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Art House Gallery proudly presents “Artist Narrator: The Art of Storytelling in Contemporary Painting.” Featuring: Grace Graupe-Pillard, ChristinaSchlesinger, Giustina Surbone, and Robin Tewes with guest co-curator, Izzy Nova.
The exhibition will be on display from Saturday, September 6th to Sunday to September 28th, 2025.
The opening reception will be held Saturday, September 6th from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM.
An artist talk will take place on Sunday, September 21st from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM.
Regular gallery hours are Saturdays and Sundays from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM.
The gallery will also be open on Friday, September 12th from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM as part of JC Fridays.
All artwork will be available for purchase at the Art House Gallery, located at The Hendrix, 345
Marin Boulevard, Jersey City, NJ 07302, and online at Art House Online Gallery.
“It is an honor to have these four esteemed artists in the gallery. Their work is vital to the
conversation of feminism, humanity, and storytelling in contemporary art. Their strong artistic
voices challenge convention, illuminate personal and collective histories, and offer a deeply
resonant lens through which we can reflect on identity, resilience, and the power of narrative,”
says Gallery Director Andrea McKenna.
ABOUT THIS EXHIBIT
Artist Narrator: The Art of Storytelling in Contemporary Painting brings together painters Grace Graupe-Pillard, Christina Schlesinger, Giustina Surbone, and Robin Tewes.
The work explores the human experience with stories and portraits in their own distinct style and perspectives.
“The primary theme of this exhibition is the narrative in painting, one of the oldest genres of storytelling, as expressed through the work of four contemporary painters reflecting their time and worldview. Although each artist brings a personal perspective to the narrative, the artworks portray a cohesive intersectionality of class, gender, sexuality, untraditional beauty, and psychology. For example, Graupe-Pillard's powerful and unromanticized portraits capture the ineffable moments of our lives, which can be both bitter and sweet, revealing our shared
humanity. Similarly, Surbone's large-scale portraits capture the carnality and individuality of her
subjects, exploring societal beauty standards and sexual identity. In Tewes' subtly surreal work,
she explores issues of class, gender, and the subconscious. Her jewel-like paintings of interiors,
with or without people, initially tell a story of contemporary life. Schlesinger's paintings and
mixed media collages explore self-portraiture and lesbian sexuality. The narrative implicit in her
Tomboy and Lesbian Bar paintings is the historically hidden experiences of that culture.”
-Izzy Nova, Guest Co-Curator
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Born in NYC and maintaining a studio in Keyport, NJ, Grace Graupe-Pillard is a painter, public artist, educator, and videographer who writes about art and film. She has exhibited her artwork in various venues, including one-person exhibitions at the NJ State Museum, Carl Hammer Gallery in Chicago, The Proposition in NYC, Hal Bromm Gallery in NYC, Bernice
Steinbaum in NYC, David Richard Gallery in NYC, and the Valentine Museum of Art in Brooklyn, NY . She also had a two-person show at Untitled Gallery in NYC.
Grace has participated in group exhibitions at Cheim & Read Gallery in NYC, Project for Empty Space in Newark, NJ, The Ringling College of Art & Design in Florida, P.S. 1 NYC in Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Museum, The Maier Museum in Virginia, The Aldrich Museum in Connecticut, The Drawing Center in NYC, The Frist Center in Tennessee, and The National
Academy Museum in NYC among others.
Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Village V oice, The Daily Beast, Artforum, Art in America, Art News, and FlashArt. She has also been interviewed for Yale University Radio WYBC and has had her work covered online in publications such as The Huffington Post, Hyperallergic, Vice Creator’s Project, Art-Net Magazine, Persimmons, and Women’s Voices for Change, among others.
Artist and muralist Christina Schlesinger lives and works in New York City and East Hampton, NY . Her work has been exhibited nationally. Her Tomboy paintings were exhibited at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art in Manhattan and at the Duron Gallery at SPARC in Venice, California. Christina’s Dorothy paintings, a series based on Dorothy from The
Wizard of Oz, were exhibited at the Cape Cod Cultural Center in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts, in the summer of 2024. She is a co-founder of SPARC, the Social and Public Art Resource Center, a prominent community arts organization in California. Her career in public art includes “Chagall Returns to Venice Beach,” commissioned by the Jewish Federation of Los
Angeles for the Israel Levin Center in Venice, CA; “The Big Splash” in Los Angeles at the Greyhound Bus Terminal; “The Fire Mural” at the DD Bean Match Factory in Jaffrey, NH and “The Peaceable Kingdom” at the Kennedy Child Study Center in the Bronx, NY.
She is the recipient of grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the Adolph Gottlieb Foundation, the Cummington Community of the Arts, and Fondation Karolyi in Vence, France.
Giustina Surbone is a Brooklyn-based artist born and raised in Buffalo, NY . She studied painting at State University College at Buffalo, Parsons School of Design, and the Arts Student League. In addition to her practice as a painter, Surbone has experimented with video, performance, and the culinary arts. She created and produced the Hungry GRlz Project from 2011 to 22. Venues where she’s exhibited include McCaig-Welles Gallery, Exit Art, Tribes Gallery, Tabla Rasa Gallery, Gallery Korea, The Flux Factory, Sideshow Gallery, Lascono Gallery, and El Barrio Art Space PS 109, to name a few. Discussions about her work can be seen on YouTube: The James Kalm Report and Being in A Lone Space: 5 Women Artists at Tabla Rasa Gallery. Her work has been published and reviewed in The New York Times, The New York Daily News, and Time Out New York, and her work is in both private and the Kentler International Drawing Space collections.
Robin Tewes has exhibited nationally and internationally. Some museums and galleries include
The Whitney, Boca Raton, Kohler, Weatherspoon, Aldridge, Payne Gallery, Bill Maynes, John Weber, Adam Baumgold, Wright Gallery, Untitled Space, Drawing Center, Galleria Durban, A.I.R., Headbones, Islip Museum, Spencertown Museum, Tabla Rasa Gallery, and Provincetown Museum. Some publications include the NY Times, Artnews, Artforum, Art in America, Brooklyn Rail, New Yorker, New York Magazine, and Tema Celeste. Some awards include
NYFA, Gottlieb, Lillian Orlowsky/William Freed. Pollock-Krasner, Pyramid Atlantic, Mid Atlantic, and Artist Space. She is included in the Smithsonian Archives of American Art. Residency awards include Brydcliffe, VCCA, VSC, Ucross, Djerasi, Golden Foundation, Abbey Mural National Academy Museum, and Pyramid Atlantic. Tewes is one of the founding members of the PS122 Painting Association and is currently on the Board.
ACCESSIBILITY
Large-print materials and tactile, descriptive tours are available upon request. For more
information, please contact Andrea McKenna at [email protected].
ABOUT ART HOUSE PRODUCTIONS
Art House Productions is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the
performing and visual arts in Jersey City, NJ. Through theater productions, visual art exhibitions,
and community programs, Art House fosters creativity, inclusivity, and accessibility across all disciplines.
Visit us at 345 Marin Boulevard in Jersey City or online at www.arthouseproductions.org.
Follow Art House on Twitter @arthouseprods and on Instagram and Facebook
@arthouseproductions & @ahpgallery
SUPPORTERS
Support for Art House’s programs in 2025 is provided by an Anonymous American Foundation; the Arts in Education Program and the Hudson County History Partnership Program through Hudson County Cultural Affairs; the City of Jersey City; the Exchange Place Alliance; the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner organization of the NEA; Genova Burns; the Historic Downtown Special Improvement District (HDSID); the Jersey City Economic Development
Corporation; Jersey City Health and Human Services; KRE; the New Jersey Economic Development Authority Small Business Improvement Grant; Panepinto Properties; public funds from the Jersey City Arts and Culture Trust Fund; RWJ Barnabas | Jersey City Medical Center; SILVERMAN; Super Buy Rite; the New Jersey Arts and Culture Renewal Fund; Tito’s
Handmade V odka; and many other generous volunteers, donors, and sponsors.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
345 Marin Blvd, Jersey City, NJ, United States, New Jersey 07302
