Light, Texture, and the Poetics of Everyday Life at Novado Gallery
Visiting Novado Gallery in Jersey City felt like stepping into a space where texture, light, and abstraction converge to tell stories about perception and the everyday world. The gallery seemed to invite a slower kind of looking, one where you notice subtle shifts in color, brushstroke, or form, and realize how these details shape emotion and meaning.
Steve Datz
The first work that caught my eye was Journey n.3 from Steve Datz’s The Consistency of Inconsistency series. Datz’s abstract pieces explore the tension between repetition and variation, creating compositions that feel both spontaneous and deliberate. There’s a rhythm in his work, a sense that order and chaos coexist harmoniously, which makes the viewer reflect on the patterns in their own life.
Steve Datz, Journey n.3, 2020, Acrilic, window screen over panel, 19 x 12 1/2 in
Standing in front of this piece, I felt like I was witnessing movement frozen in time, like a visual meditation on change itself. Datz invites you to embrace unpredictability while finding comfort in recurring forms.
Susan MacDonald
Next, Susan MacDonald’s Where Light Meets Water offered a different kind of reflection. Her landscapes are delicate and luminous, capturing the interplay of natural light on water surfaces with such sensitivity that you almost feel the breeze or see the ripples yourself.
Susan MacDonald, Where Light Meets Water, 40 x 30, limited edition ICM photograph on aluminum.
MacDonald’s work made me pause in a way abstract art doesn’t always allow. Whereas Datz’s work explores movement and rhythm, MacDonald’s photos remain in serenity, offering a moment to contemplate space, reflection, and the fleeting qualities of light.
Robert Glisson
Finally, Robert Glisson’s Morning Walk captures a quiet, almost meditative moment. His work is full of slow narrative. A lone figure walking through a soft, enveloping landscape feels familiar yet mysterious, like a memory half-remembered, or a routine seen in a new light.
Robert Glisson, Morning Walk, 2025, Oil on panel, 14 x 11 in
Glisson’s subtle approach reminded me of the slow beauty in mundane moments: a simple walk, a fleeting moment of reflection, the calm of a quiet morning. His work resonates emotionally without needing dramatic gestures.
Walking through Novado Gallery was refreshing and exiting. From Datz’s rhythmic abstractions, to MacDonald’s luminous landscapes, to Glisson’s contemplative figures, the exhibition emphasized that even ordinary moments and forms can carry extraordinary resonance when seen with intention.
Links:
https://www.newjerseystage.com/articles2/2026/03/25/steve-datz-the-consistency-of-inconsistency/
https://www.novadogallery.com/new-index-1#/new-gallery-34
https://www.novadogallery.com/new-gallery-9
https://www.susanmacdonaldphotography.com/collections/transference
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