Catalog Release & Essay by Essence Writer & Kean Alumni, Keyaira Boone

Join us @ Kean University Karl & Helen Burger Galleries

May 9th 4:30-8PM/ Closing Reception & Catalog Signing by Ricardo Roig

LAYERS OF LIFE

Ricardo Roig tenderly reconsiders landmarks in Layers of Life. The artist relies on hand-cut paper stencils to create intricate screenprints to present his worldview. His gaze extends from major monuments to obscure enclaves. He uses precise razor strokes to uncover his philosophy of relentless positivity.

The collection primarily focuses on the artist’s Northeastern roots. It crafts images of little- known community gathering spots. It also romantically reframes major tourist attractions and records international travels.

Roig developed a signature style of storytelling using an X-Acto knife to portray multi- dimensional images. His blade sinks into fond memories, real and imagined.
In his world, every person and place are the best version of themselves. They are luminous and serene. The challenges of their surroundings vanish.

Layers of Life includes forty-three (43) pieces portraying moments uncovered with the tip of Roig’s blade. He began experimenting with hand-cutting prints as a student at Kean University over eighteen years ago. The process he first learned in the Department of Fine Arts is meditative for him. He feels it leads to work that is warmer and more complex than it would be using other methods.

The technique exists in the threshold between art and life, creation and destruction. Roig is transforming whole pieces of paper with each slice of his imagination. But as he inserts them into his visions, he is creating something new.

Roig shares his perspective through the use of custom mixed paints he blends by hand to transform the material. Fluorescent flashes take audiences to the edge of Frank Sinatra Park and the center of the Hudson River. The layered inks erect a clear separation from one color to the next.

The elements of each piece vary in scale from 10x8 inches to 48x84 inches. Large-scale works on canvas offer “portals” into Roig’s outlook on life, love, and balance.

This show presents the artist’s commitment to maintaining a positive outlook on the world. Crowded commuter hubs become sweet touchstones of bygone eras through his lens.

Presenting light from different sources is an integral part of Roig’s process. Natural luminescence and artificial beams appear

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in many of his works. The steady supply of brightness shows up in intimate interiors. It also accentuates restful exterior spaces.

Chandeliers, sunrises, lamp posts, lighthouses, reflective polycarbonate signage, torches, and neon marquees anchor a significant portion of his pieces. His intention is to motivate the viewer to recognize the light within themselves by refracting their attention.

“Shine,” what began as a large-scale monochromatic abstract palette knife painting transformed into a mixed-media work, the darkness brightened by a hand-cut and spray-painted chandelier, suspended from the ceiling, asks the viewer to take the time to consider the source of their own lights with a period of brief introspection.

The landmarks Roig presents, a form of realism, add context to his world. Roig’s work heavily focuses on the illumination and abstraction of mundane moments. Dunes, horizon lines, piers, and bridges aid his storytelling. Pink skies smile on welcoming sand in “Avalon.” An unusually vacant river shimmers in “Sunsets on Hudson.” His optimism infuses love into rapidly changing landscapes and waterscapes.

Shifting skylines and eroding shorelines are preserved through his buoyant lens.
Layers of Life was organized and curated by Dr. Lynette A. Zimmerman for the Galleries at Kean. It is on display at the Karl and Helen Burger Gallery from January 25, 2024, to May 24, 2024.

Inspired by the advancement of the arts at Kean University, the Roig family endowed the Roig Family Art Scholarship, to support fine arts majors. Giving back is central to the Roigs’ values and they excitedly embrace supporting emerging artists as an important element of their family legacy.

A percentage of the proceeds from the sale of each artwork in Layers of Life will be donated to the Roig Family Art Scholarship at Kean University.

Keyaira Boone