(JERSEY CITY, NJ) -- Novado Gallery Presents "Fire & Ice" from July 11 through August 19. "Fire & Ice" features two solo exhibitions: Joanna Lentini’s large and medium-scale photographs on aluminum and Michael Dominick’s molten iron and gold leaf paintings on canvas. The contrast in presenting exhibitions with these two artists in the heat of summer provides the viewer with formal appreciation and food for thought. ​​

Gorgeous contrast is what heat and fire can produce through artistic process, and Michael Dominick’s work reveals an undeniable aesthetic created through loss. Trained as a sculptor with a background in foundry work, Dominick’s current art form is scorched organic surfaces, reliant in part on the loss of materials through the hurling of 2800-degree molten iron onto the prepared canvas surface. Intensive preparation of the canvas surface, full body protection for the artist and his assistants, and melting the iron is required prior to creating these large and medium scale works. The process is a performance in of itself, with videos available on UTube (Michael Dominick's Molten Iron Paintings - Zen and the Art of Liquid Fire). Dominick is the founding member and main organizer for New York City’s Manhattan Iron Project. While Jersey City is just being introduced to this work, The Manhattan Iron Project has become well known for their public molten iron performances in dozens of locations including: 20th Street in Chelsea, the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, and at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge in Brooklyn. Through the deliberate, rugged and gestural processes, Dominick creates gorgeous expressionist works through the combination of strength and fragility.

Cooling us off during the “dog days of summer” with her photography printed on aluminum, Joanna Lentini’s images were created over the course of two expeditions: one to the High Arctic in 2015 and the other to the Antarctic Peninsula in 2018. Lentini, a professional freelance photographer, writer and editor, developed a fascination with the massive sculptural forms of the icebergs and the fragility of the environment of Greenland’s Scoresby Sound. The icebergs exist in a paradoxical state of majestic and massive proportions, while their existence is gradually extinguished due the warming climate. Lentini has captured what photographers in the future may look upon with envy— with these images that may appear be timeless, but destined to become markers of our planet’s history. From a purely artistic standpoint, Lentini has captured the beauty of forms found in some of the planet’s harshest climates. Cooly printed on aluminum, her exhibition includes straightforward captures of the frozen landscape in color, in black and white, and also abstractions created with motion that are a dizzying, visual brain-freeze. Lentini captured her images from above and below the water’s icy surface for us to enjoy, as we take shelter from the scorching summer heat into the gallery’s cool interior. 

Novado Gallery is Jersey City’s largest commercial art gallery, located at 110 Morgan Street, between Washington and Warren in Jersey City, NJ.  Summer hours are: Sunday 11:00am-3:00pm, Monday and Tuesday by appointment, Wednesday 10:00am-7:00pm, Thursday 10:00am-6:00pm, Friday 10:00am-6:00pm, Saturday 11:00am-4:00pm.  The opening reception is Wednesday, July 11 from 7:00pm-9:00pm.

“Fire & Ice” Artist Talks at Novado Gallery: 

Joanna Lentini will give an artist talk for her exhibition: “Vanishing Ice” on Wednesday, July 25, at 7:00pm. Michael Dominick will give an artist talk and demonstration for his exhibition, “Molten Iron Paintings” on Thursday, August 9 at 6:30pm. Both talks are free and open to the public. All works in the exhibition are available for sale.

IMAGES: (TOP) Joanna Lentina - "Greenland"
(BOTTOM) Michael Dominick - "Newark Raw"