Notes From The City: An Abundant Life

I wrote about Ricardo Roig in 2016 in the first year of my writing the current section of this blog, An Abundant Life. I had met him through a mutual friend who had suggested that I visit his Gallery on First Street in Hoboken, and one day when I was walking by and I saw him inside I introduced myself. It was a small space, but with his designer's and craftsman's eye he had managed to make it very welcoming, and because of his heart it seemed to comfortably flow out onto the sidewalk and into the community. Over time I visited him there for openings and shows for other Artists, because one of the great things about Ricardo is that he had opened the Gallery not just to show his own work but to support other Artists and help them to be recognized.

In just a few short years after meeting him, he was named the Artist in Residence at Hoboken's W Hotel, but though it was a few short years after I had met him, he had been working diligently for many years before we met and I couldn't have been happier for anyone to see his hard work be recognized. He continues to bring other Artists into the spotlight in whatever ways he can, but the space in the W Hotel is his own very special spotlight on his work. He shares that space with an Interior Designer who has done a lovely job of creating a relaxing and beautiful environment, and since his opening there, though he has continued to show his work in other places, every Thursday when the space is allowed to be open, there is an enjoyable Mix and Sip gathering for people to visit and talk and look at beautiful art and listen to music and taste light bite treats from Halifax at the W Hotel and other local restaurants.

A few months ago I saw him on First Street, and he told me that he was in the process of opening a new space that was across the street from the smaller space where I had first met him. He had continued to invite other Artists and Artisans to work in the original space, at times having pop-up shows or a frame shop, and most recently there is a t-shirt and urban style designer there. This new space was to be a combination of studio and showroom, and when I ran into him again a few weeks ago he told me that he had decided to collaborate with two interior designers to finish the space and create a comfortable place for children and families to visit and watch and learn about his process and enjoy his creative environment.

Ricardo's work depicts scenes from every day life, many times using Hoboken or Jersey City as his muse and his backdrop with other cities including New York as part of the mix. He creates his pieces using a painstaking process of cutting and printing and layering and reprinting and cutting and printing and layering again. He told me once that when he was in school and he decided that this was the art form he wanted to pursue that his friends and peers and teachers told him that he could create a similar effect by not doing so much work, but he enjoyed the full process in all its intricacies and went ahead to perfect it. I love that story because I understand that kind of way of thinking - when people tell me that I can do something another way that might be easier, I usually find myself thanking them politely and going ahead and doing it the way I feel it needs to be done. Ricardo is a perfectionist, and he makes the cuts in his paper with a scalpel, and the layers upon layers that he creates infuse the pieces with depth and color that not only bring the scenes to glorious life but gives them their own unique sense of having been part of the fabric of the city themselves.

And that is very much like Ricardo himself, who is such an integral part of the community that I don't need to go looking for him on purpose because usually I will just find him, talking to someone on the street, walking to work, or now and then out with his family for a celebration or fun day or evening out. He also is an inspiration to others, and part of so much that keeps the creative life of Hoboken alive, but if you ask him how an event or a block party happened, he'll always say it was someone else. Just as his work is layered and measured and incorporates many colors, he is a part of the multi-layered texture of the community around him, inspiring, supporting and bringing new ideas to the forefront and allowing others opportunities to shine through the glow of his own work and life.

Ricardo Roig

In Hoboken, New Jersey
At His First Gallery On First Street
https://www.roigcollection.com/