John Puglisi was born in a small town in northern New Jersey. Growing up with oil refineries and chemical plants in his backyard, he dreamed of getting out. A life on the factory assembly line was not an appealing proposition. After receiving a BFA in illustration from Pratt Institute in 1991, John’s art career took him to Southern California to work in the film business. But New Jersey’s smokestack skylines and John’s memories of growing up in the Garden State still continue to inform his work.

In this show he assembles a cast of blue-collar characters from his childhood memories and places them in settings inspired by Asbury Park, Atlantic City, and industrial North Jersey. Train stations, bus stops, and power plants set the stage and become characters themselves in these explorations of how the constant presence of industry and enterprise shapes the human culture that springs up around it. Puglisi also considers how urban development overtakes old ways of living and working, rendering people and buildings into artifacts in an ever-changing industrial landscape. John has exhibited in group shows at La Luz de Jesus Gallery, M Modern Gallery, Andlab Gallery, and City of Brea Gallery. “The Garden State” is his first solo exhibition. In addition to producing fine art, John has worked as a conceptual illustrator and storyboard artist on animated and live-action films for DreamWorks, Disney, Universal Studios, Warner Brothers, Industrial Light and Magic, and Twentieth-Century Fox. He most recently directed an episode of NBC’s “Father of the Pride” for DreamWorks Animation.

This show is dedicated to the people who still live and work in The Garden State.

"A Day in the Ironbound"

24x30"
Oil on canvas
SOLD

"Above the Clouds"

12x24"
Oil on canvas
1700.00
SOLD

"Afterschool Challenge"

16x16"
Oil on panel
1400.00
SOLD

"Atlantic City"

20x20"
Oil on canvas
2500.00
SOLD

"August in Brick City"

11x26"
Oil on canvas
2200.00
SOLD

"Crusher"

17x22"
Graphite on paper
1200.00
SOLD