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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!

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 February16th at 5:30 p.m.

"Wolf" by Mikaela Gonzaga in the AS220 Youth Gallery, Floor 2 at 111 Empire St.

THE EXCHANGE

In his current series, Ben Blanc pursues the relationship between art, design, retail and commerce through an ambitious installation of 200 handmade objects. The exhibition represents the contentious nature of artist, viewer and object vs. designer, consumer, and product. Blanc's work explores how artists and designers imbue their work with value and how that value is marketed to and perceived by the viewer and consumer. This impressive installation becomes a laboratory in which the line between artistic exhibition and retail store are blurred when the worth of each object is challenged as the artist unveils a forced value upon one of the 200 objects on opening night. Over the course of the show, the exhibition will become less of a static installation, and transform into an evolving record of sale and commerce.

Artist Talk at the AS220 Project Space at 93 Mathewson St. on January 19th at 5:30 p.m. Free and open to the public.

JANUARY 8-28, 2012 opening reception (free & open to the public) Sunday, January 8 , 4-7pm

AS220 Main Gallery

New Paintings by Lauren Scotto & Janet Van Horne

Open Window

New Paintings by Carolina Arentsen

Youth Gallery

New work by Davina Alejo & Staci Braxton

AS220 Project Space (93 Mathewson St.)

The Exchange

New Work by Ben Blanc

artist talk January 19th at 5:30 p.m.

Exhibiting artist Li Jun Lai will give an artist talk this Thursday at 5:30 at the AS220 Project Space at 93 Mathewson St. Her new exhibition, " RED, YWL, GRN," is a site-specific installation of paintings and drawings that explore the very temporal and temporary experience that seeing is.

From the Li Jun's artist statement:

"Observe, see, take notes, gather different types of information, at multiple scales, of different durations. Different kinds of seeing - looking, glancing, contemplating, foveal and peripheral vision, walking around, going into, looking down, looking up, stepping back afar, peering in closely, from different perspectives. Visual processing - multiple and simultaneous pathways that the brain uses to make sense of sensory stimuli, to construct images and meaning .."

DECEMBER 4-24, 2011

opening reception (free & open to the public)

Sunday, December 4 , 4-7pm

AS220 Main Gallery

No Banks

New Paintings by Nick McKnight & Carl Dimitri

Open Window

Diversity

New Paintings by Nix-on

Youth Gallery

New work from the AS220 Youth Studio!

AS220 Project Space

RED, YLW, GRN,

New Work by Li Jun Lai

artist talk December 15th at 5:30 p.m.

You recently moved to Providence to a studio in AS220's Mercantile Block. What led you to Providence and AS220?

I was really interested in finding a community that was supportive of the arts. I had the opportunity to meet some of the staff of AS220 and fell in love with the organization. I've always felt strongly about community-based organizations and I felt inspired by AS220 to follow my dreams on becoming an expressive artist. I have been very impressed with the AS220 staff and community for devoting themselves to an organization that is in support of the larger community as a whole, while not forgetting the ever-special refuge for the artist. I feel very thankful to have been welcomed into this community and hope that I can contribute not only as an artist, but also as a person who really wants to make a difference in this world one photograph or moment at a time.

You have several bodies of work including a series entitled, Dialog with the Homeless shot with a 4x5 camera this past winter in San Francisco. Some of the photographs from the series seem quite intimate and I believe you must have established some amount of trust between yourself and the individuals you were documenting. How did you create that bond between yourself and individuals to create such intimate portraits? What was the origin of this body of work? Did you set out to document the homeless or did the project develop organically from conversations and chance encounters? Did you move to San Francisco that winter expressly to document the homeless?

The homeless project was a challenge. I knew that I was drawn to the homeless in San Francisco from living there in the late 90's. I have always felt a certain amount of isolation as a person, so the main focus of my project was to try to communicate the isolation that these people may feel.... I feel that I have been spiritually homeless for years, so this project was a way to get closer to expressing an aspect of the human condition and perhaps isolation, not only as a person, but also as an artist.

As part of my graduate program, I decided to take advantage of my opportunity as a student to relocate to work under the mentorship of Reagan Louie, who as you may know is a well known documentary fine art photographer. It took me a few months to narrow the focus of my project. I started volunteering in shelters and was searching for a way to get closer to the people that I felt a connection to. My project was really about observing. For months I would go out and just talk with them, sharing a cup of coffee or a cigarette before I even picked up my camera. I tried shooting some 35mm and had thoughts of just focusing on one or two from the street community, but knew that I wanted to get closer, not only photographically but also personally. The 4x5 camera forces me to slow down as a photographer, learning these skills in an intuitive way allows me to focus on the person that is in front of the lens...

To Continue Reading This Interview Click "Read More" at Right

Your work straddles the line between abstraction and figurative painting. You have made dense layered abstract doodle-like paintings as well as straight observational plein air paintings, and now your recent work combines the two. What does each approach offer you as a painter? Are the processes vastly different? Are you asking different things from each one? Can you talk about your process and how your current works fit into your overall work?

The two are related I suppose in the sense that any two things one does are related, but I think that they each take place in different parts of my brain. One I would call a drawing sensibility, which integrates lots of different ways of thinking (verbal, conceptual, sexual etc.), and the other I would call a color sensibility and seems more specific or discrete, an end in itself. I feel like my drawing sensibility prepared me for experiencing my color sensibility, brought me to a place where I was ready for it and wanted it. But they seem like separate things. And, yes, in my latest work I'm trying to integrate them somehow.
In my older work I would doodle a lot and then fuss over the doodles. I'd start out with a bunch of random thoughts spilling out onto the page and then spend a lot of time trying to hammer or distill that mess into something more substantial.... a sort of abstract expressionist process. I started getting more and more fussy about it and then getting irritated by my own fussiness and would need to do something stupid to the painting to try to fuck it up and save it. Sometimes this worked, sometimes it didn't. Guston describes this type of ab-ex process as like being stuck in a corner, smashing your head against a wall.

But I started to notice that after leaving the studio, say going for a walk or something, the world would look different to me, clearer. Like the chaos had an order to it. I could see all the particulars and how it all fit together. I started getting seduced by all this color around me, and all the random junk we have hanging around in the spaces we live in. I thought, "why not just paint that."

There's a description of a story I read once.... I can't remember whom it was by, but it was in reference to an Ingmar Bergman film.... an article in the New Yorker. The story's about a demon who is stuck in Hell but every hundred years or so he's allowed out onto the surface of the earth for a day. On one of these trips he sees a bowl of apples. It's just a bowl of apples but he sees it with the clarity that only one who's been stuck in Hell can see it. That's what I felt like when I started doing the landscape stuff. They are everything that the other work wasn't, so in a way they are obliquely referring to it, to that hell. Of course, you might not see that. You might just see the bowl of apples. Also, there's the whole Providence hipster thing from 10 years ago.... which is a type of Romanticism.... Caspar David Friedrich taken over by Saturday morning cartoons...where it's no longer the natural world we are confronted by/drowning in, but instead our own absurd culture. I wanted to show that that sense of "magic" or awe didn't need to be represented by rainbows, crystals, and people with animal heads, but could also be seen in the colors of your neighbors soffit, skylight, and fence.

So now I'm trying to combine these two ways of working. I'm trying to have that drama I was describing above take place within one painting, the soffit and the satyr side by each. Only, now the landscape stuff is what I start out with...those are the random things I put down first. Then I follow up with the abstract doodle stuff to try to tie it all together. Under the influence of the landscapes the doodles start to become more about color. And again I can get stuck in hell... an endless and open-ended process of fussy adjustments. It seems unavoidable. I'm not sure what I think of this work yet.... It's growing on me is all I can say. I try to focus on the sense of engagement I get when making the work, and not the result. It's still pretty thrilling to sit down in front of something and start making decisions. This is what I want the viewer to connect with.

NOVEMBER 6-26, 2011

opening reception (free & open to the public)

Sunday, November 6 , 4-7pm

AS220 Main Gallery

New Work by Melanie Rae Zapasnik

and Betsey MacDonald

Open Window

Abstract Paintings by Ronnie Borden

Youth Gallery

Jon Gourlay and Alberto Bernard

AS220 Project Space

New Work by Dan Talbot

Reading Room

Light Works by Rebecca Macri

Decorative Diatom, 2010, Watercolor by Rebecca Macri