Sunday, February 26th from 4 to 6pm
AS220 Project Space on Mathewson Street
Agata will be in the gallery telling the story behind the objects, if you have not heard it yet. A slightly new version of the installation is on view, some elements taken away, some added, some moved. It will be nice to see you.
MARCH 4-24, 2012
opening reception (free & open to the public)
Sunday, March 4, 4-7pm
AS220 Main Gallery
New Paintings by Susan Dansereau and Buck Hastings
Open Window
New Paintings by Richard Garrett
Youth Gallery
AS220 Youth Group Show
AS220 Project Space (93 Mathewson St.)
Maelstrom
New Work by Astrid
The Reading Room
A Collection of Artists' Books by Lara Henderson
FEBRUARY 5-25 2012
opening reception (free & open to the public)
Sunday, February 5 , 4-7pm
AS220 Main Gallery
Interplay New Paintings by Robert Mariani &
Still Theater New Work by Emperor Justinian Stanislaus of the Red Fork Empire
Open Window
New Paintings by Ivy M. McDonald
Youth Gallery
New work by Mikaela Gonzaga and Davina Alejo
AS220 Project Space (93 Mathewson St.)
dom
New Work by Agata Michalowska
artist talk February 16th at 5:30 p.m.
also in the cabinet of curiosities
close as anyones come an installation by Aaron Peterman
After traveling through multiple dimensions Justinian Stanislaus will be landing in Providence, RI at the AS220 Gallery, Sunday, February 5th. Justinian, otherwise known as the Emperor, ruler of the Red Fork Empire, will be exhibiting work from his travels promoting creativity in all of us, aiding in the movement, or if you will, the war against The Dull.
Jayme Allard, a local graphic designer, with a day job in building commissioning, investigated the Red Fork Empire and enlisted the artist in some Q&A. Deciphering the intricacies of Emperor Justinian's world is a difficult task; below Jayme shines a little light on his shadowy realm.
How did the title The Emperor surface? It seems like a powerful name to live up to. Given the size of the Emperor's fist, how big are the shoes you have to fill to be ruler of the Red Fork Empire?
The shoes are just the right size, very comfortable in fact. The Emperor likes comfortable shoes; you really cannot get quality work done without the right shoes. Which is why the Emperor rules the Multi-verse - good comfortable shoes. Well that and omnipotence. Since the beginning of the Multi-Verse, the Emperor has always been the Emperor. To take on the cause of spreading creativity and imagination, either through his Artifacts or speaking to the masses, the Emperor likes his title and sees it fitting.
I understand that there are 5 known Emperors that walk among us, could you reveal them to us? Is the need for the multiple persons to fight against The Dull?
There is 1, otherwise known as Rookfinger, he's the most friendly of us and is seen in public the most due to his curiosity. Then 2, or Booth, he is the most militant of the five. He takes the war against the Dull very seriously. Next is 3, three is very creepy, his manner is that of a spider, or serpentine. As Booth is militant, Tobias is manipulative in the war. Now 4, many names, often is called peanut or Gnat, he is the one who was effected by the Red Fork Event the most. He has all of the Emperors that ever were or will be in his head. So he is rather insane. Which leads to 5, Tobias. He might be morally ambiguous, but Hyde or creature has no morals whatsoever. He will destroy a planet on a whim. It isn't required to be multiple people to fight The Dull, it just happened that way, the result though does inspire singular people to do so.
Could you elaborate and give a glimpse into the world of Victorian science fiction art, otherwise known as steampunk?
You ask ten people what is steampunk and you will get ten different answers. So no one who is into steampunk can say they are an authority. If they do they are not embracing the spirit of it. Steampunk is at its base Victorian Sci Fi, but that is just the tiny start of what it actually is. To me, it is an artistic movement that inspires people who would not normally think of themselves as artists to dive in and be creative. It is an avenue for artists to express their own originality within borders that keep challenging how creative they can be. There are boundaries of what is and what is not steampunk, but that is like starting a discussion of what makes art, art. You really just know it when you see it. One way I like to describe it: Never before has there been a dork, geek, nerd subculture that has fashion shows and tea parties. Steampunk is era-based fiction where steam is the primary energy source. It encompasses almost every artistic medium you can imagine, be it literary, musical, traditional art, or dance. It puts them all under one community that forces those mediums to interact with each other and learn from one another.
Many of your pieces in the Still Theater collection tell a story of their own. What story does your artwork tell as a collection?
These are the artifacts, inventions, and windows into untold dimensions from the existence of a god like being that doesn't exist except in the minds of those who have imagination.
What else would you like the Citizens of Providence, and surrounding, to recognize about the Emperor and his Empire?
All shall know of the Red Fork Empire. Do not let The Dull infest your life, if you believe that you are not creative and have no imagination you are wrong. Recognize the creative genius of the Emperor and help his cause, either with contributions to own an Artifact from the Emperor (he also takes commissions), or by creating your own.
Keep up the Fight.
Learn More about Emperor Justinian Stanislaus and the Red Fork Empire on his site.
(You can spend hours on there!)
Please join us for a 4-7pm public reception in the galleries in honor of February's exhibiting artists: Emperor Justinian Stanislaus of the Red Fork Empire, Agata Michalowska, Robert Mariani, Ivy M McDonald, and AS220 Youth Members, Mikaela Gonzaga & and Davina Alejo.
dom: New Work by Agata Michalowska
At the AS220 Project Space, 93 Mathewson St
On View February 5-25, 2012
Neal Walsh, AS220 Gallery Director interviewed Agata on the occasion of her Project Space exhibit "dom", which opens this Sunday, February 5th.
You are a printmaker by training, but you tend to stretch the borders of what is traditionally thought of as "printmaking." Can you discuss your process and the role of printmaking in your work?
Printmaking has been and always will be at the core of my practice. Even when I do not work with print, the processes I am drawn to are of similar character-precise, repetitive, requiring a lot of patience and focus. When I was at RISD printmaking provided a framework within which I could find my own aesthetic and conceptual language. It was the base off of which I could dive into other media. I quickly became dissatisfied with the 2-D image and started treating the Intaglio copper plates as objects rather than carriers of an image. The prints became a record of my physical interactions with the plate. I experimented with etching through copper plates, cutting into them and changing their surface with molten glass.
I have been fascinated with sculpture and installation but only recently started working on a bigger scale. I still have a lot to learn but enjoy the challenge and feel a great need for working with space as an environment. Learning is an inspiring process. I dislike being bored and when something becomes too familiar and "safe" I move on. New ideas drive me.
Who influences your work and current thoughts about art making? Is there a single artist or person that played a pivotal role in your development as an artist?
Working on the "dom" exhibition I kept thinking about Joseph Beuys - the raw materials that he used that were heavy with meaning and the environments that often told a story. I did not understand his work until I saw his objects in person. They had a strong presence and all belonged to one narrative. I felt immersed in his world.
Amongst other artists whose work I often go back to are Rachel Whiteread, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Gabriel Orozco, Ann Hamilton, Rebecca Horn, Wolfgang Tillmans, David Ireland, Alexander Brodsky, Lee Ufan, Miroslaw Balka, and Olafur Eliasson to name a few. I'm also drawn to minimalism and the Japanese aesthetic. I enjoy work that is simple, beautiful, and conceptually engaging.
Memory, time, history, and the fragile border they share seems to play an important role in your work. Can you discuss these ideas in relation to your art? I imagine the reason for this is deeply personal, in the sense that you are living in two different cultures with different languages and customs; though modernity has arguably decreased the distances between them.
This is a very broad subject. Yes, time has a very important role in my work. The sense of the passage of time, the subjectivity of it, the remembrance of the past, aging and the loss of memory... I am also fascinated with history and the way human beings shape it and are shaped by it. Objects seem to be silent witnesses to our hectic lives. They tell the story long after the people who owned them have died. I often look at artifacts and books from past centuries and try to imagine the lives of the people who touched them.
In the "dom" exhibition I am digging into my own past and my memories of growing up in Poland. I have been thinking about the concept of a home- what it is and what it can be, how it is created, can it exist in more than one place. For the past eight years I have lived in the USA, I speak, write and think in English. But every year when I go back to Warsaw my mind shifts into another language and another way of thinking. This duality is strange and fascinating at the same time. For a while I felt as if I lived in two parallel worlds. Now they are starting to blend as my life shifts. I know I will always be in between, traveling between the continents, cultures, languages and points of view.
Everything in "dom" is based in the personal mythology. Most of the materials were collected in Poland and have a very specific meaning and a story. The curtain that hangs in the gallery window belonged to my grandmother who passed away four years ago. It hung in her apartment long after she was gone. I took it down this year.
I see "dom" as distilled memory, an essence of what my senses recorded over time. Working on it was very intuitive. I knew what materials I wanted to use and allowed the form to develop from them. Throughout the duration of the exhibition I will add new objects, take away some, move things around. I would like to treat the gallery as a temporary home where the space changes as time goes by. This exhibition is also a testing ground, the first of a series of projects revolving around a similar set of ideas. It's a whole new body of work.
Please join us for a 4-7pm public reception in the galleries for February's exhibiting artists: Agata Michalowska, Robert Mariani, Emperor Justinian Stanislaus of the Red Fork Empire, Ivy M McDonald, and AS220 Youth Members, Mikaela Gonzaga & and Davina Alejo.
And..Join us February 16th at 5:30pm at the Project Space for a free artist talk by Agata!
