Jersey City native Sam Cintron has lived an interesting life. He was born in Christ Hospital in Jersey City but at age 9, the family picked up and moved to Guatemala. His father was a Christian missionary and wanted to help the victims of the 1976 earthquake. Both parents are of Puerto Rican descent.
His boyhood home was on Mercer Street near City Hall.
“When we went to Guatemala we had no television,” Cintron related. “My dad, who is a musician himself, bought us instruments and a PA system. I learned the guitar and started writing songs.”
Cintron has two brothers and a sister.
“My father bought me drawing pads, paint brushes, and canvases.” Sam Cintron
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Cintron , who had no formal training in the arts, said he continued his passion for fine arts when he came back to Jersey City for high school.
Later he hung out with some Russian artists in Jersey City who taught him life drawing. “They were serious artists,” Cinton said, “and I spent a lot of time in their studios. Two of the artists still live in Jersey City.”
Now, Cintron will be showing a 14-foot sculpture of a giant fish hook with a humongous rope attached to it, as well as paintings, video installations, and performance art that are all linked to the new CD, titled “Standing in Babylon.” He will hold an exhibit/CD release party in Jersey City on April 14.
Heart of the arts
Cintron is cofounder of Hope Center Arts, a 5,000-square-foot gallery space in the Jersey City Heights that opened after 9/11 2001.
“It started as a custom frame shop and then became the Sam Cintron gallery,” he said.
His wife, Liza, with whom he has three kids, is artistic director of Hope Center’s arts academy, which boasts more than 100 students.
Cintron was also the owner of the former Pallette gallery on Christopher Columbus Drive. He also represents artists Alberto Ulloa, Orlando Cuevas, and Duda Penteado.
He curates art shows in Brazil, as well as the U.S.
Cintron describes his visual art as “contemporary, very conceptual and theatrical with a whimsical twist. It’s eclectic in subject matter and thought and prophetic in nature.”
He thinks of his work as “visual metaphor. It’s what I believe people are feeling in America. There’s a tension and frustration that exists in what we see and hear in the world today through the media.”
He cites wars and the tension between countries as one cause of anxiety. “No one has an explanation for why it’s happening,” he said. “The constitution is being killed by judges who ignore the text.”
He believes that new technology also causes anxiety. “One day you have the I-Pad, and the next minute the phone and computer are obsolete. I feel that anxiety is brewing in us.”
Opening night
Cintron has written more than 150 songs in both English and Spanish.
Under the Vida label, he has written hits such as “Alguien Me Toca” and “Somos Hermanos,” both well-known in the Spanish gospel circuit.
He has shared the stage with artists including Martha Munizzi, Paul Baloche, Rita Springer, and Marcos Vidal.
The new CD is “pop rock and theatrical in nature,” he said, but also “a soul cry filled with passionate and haunting lyrics drawn from the Christian experience.”
In addition to all his artistic talents, Cintron is pastor of worship arts at the Hope Center Tabernacle, serving under senior pastors Mario and Leigh Gonzalez.
The entire body of work, he said, took seven years to complete.
His fine art and music have been described as equal parts “disarming, whimsical, and poignant.”
Cintron’s first album, “Songs from the Secret Place,” released in 2003, was “a collection of love songs and lamentations reflecting a year-long introspective journey.”
The release party and exhibition will be held at the Hope Center, 110 Cambridge Avenue at 7 p.m. on April 14. For more information call (201) 677-8130.
Kate Rounds can be reached at krounds@hudsonreporter.com..