Pure Joy at Express Newark – Opening Reception

Pure Joy, Newark Arts’ inaugural group exhibition at Paul Robeson Galleries @ Express Newark, celebrates Newark Arts Festival 2025 and features over 70 visual artists responding to the festival call to explore joy as a creative force. The exhibition features a wide range of works, including bold paintings, film, and mixed-media pieces that celebrate joy as a vehicle of cultural and community resilience. 

Each piece in the collection embodies joy as more than a fleeting emotion. The artists convey it as a catalyst for catharsis, a builder of resilience, and a unifying force. Through their creative practice, they show joy as an active expression of hope, resistance, and love for life—illuminating how art can inspire, sustain, and transform communities. 

As the poet and activist Audre Lorde declared, “Once we recognize we can feel deeply, we can love deeply, we can feel joy, then we will demand that all parts of our lives produce that kind of joy.” This exhibition embodies that powerful demand, showcasing the transformative power of art to create a world where joy is not just a possibility, but a right. 

This exhibition also marks a significant milestone: Newark Arts’ debut as an official organization in residence at Express Newark. 

 RSVP required to attend (free)