AS220 Galleries Return with Strong Shows - Inside Art with Michael Rose

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

Michael Rose, Art Contributor

 

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PHOTO: Michael Rose

 

Founded in 1985, AS220 is one of Rhode Island’s key cultural landmarks. Its properties in downtown Providence feature performance venues, housing, art studios, and much more. Mounting regular exhibitions, AS220 Galleries bring the institution’s unjuried and uncensored philosophy to the visual arts. Recently, these exhibition spaces took a winter hiatus. Now reopened, and with strong new exhibitions on view, AS220 Galleries are showing off the rich variety their program brings to the local cultural scene.

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On view through March 26, AS220’s current exhibitions are well worth a visit. While AS220 boasts a number of galleries, its dual spaces at 93 Mathewson Street are displaying a range of work that can be enjoyed all at once. A show in its Project Space titled Voices Speaking Loudly highlights bright and funny paintings by Two Thangs and in the adjacent Reading Room a selection of affordable works from the organization’s Flat-File Project includes a cross-section of artistic talent from a talented group of creatives.

 

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PHOTO: Michael Rose

 

Two Thangs is the artistic brainchild of artist Matthew Brennan IV. Founded in Seattle in 2015, Brennan has since moved the project to Boston before relocating again to Providence in 2020. The basis of the works created by Two Thangs is conversation. Brennan joins forces with collaborators to meld two selected pop culture references into one cohesive work of art. In the paintings on view in the exhibition at AS220, a wry sense of humor comes across immediately. Topics range from Golden Girls and Doctor Who to a character from The Sopranos mashed up with a Pez Dispenser.

While the subject matter may be humorous, the techniques used to create the realized works on view are expert. Brennan’s use of color is both purposeful and illustrative. Vividly executed lines bring out contrasts between characters and environments that make for bold visual statements. There is also a painting on black velvet and another on a toilet seat cover thrown in for good measure. On one wall, a collection of prints of past and completed Two Thangs projects is arranged in the shape of the eggplant emoji. As exercises in creativity, the work of Two Thangs illustrates how far a simple idea can be pushed and pulled to make something entirely new. The show exemplifies the type of pure creativity AS220 seeks to foster.

 

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PHOTO: Michael Rose

 

In AS220’s Reading Room, an intimate compartment off the Project Space, a selection of works from the organization’s Flat-File Project is on display. Where the Project Space show of Two Thangs features a more uniform artistic vision, the second show on Mathewson Street highlights some of the broader talent pool affiliated with AS220.

The Flat-File Project primarily offers accessibly priced works on paper. A six-color screenprint titled “13 Tides” by Priscilla Carrion is wonderfully detailed and full of interconnected graphic elements. “Fancy Blue Flowers”, a watercolor by Caitlin Cali, offers something altogether different. In cool tones Cali explores organic forms. Alongside these works, a triptych of subtle and beautiful photographs by Madison Emond are on view. These images were created using quahogs converted for use as pinhole cameras. A graduate of Bard College, Emond is also membership coordinator of AS220 Industries in addition to being an active artist.

 

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PHOTO: Michael Rose

 

While engrossing, the shows on Mathewson Street are not the only exhibitions on view this month at AS220. In its Main Gallery at 115 Empire Street, AS220’s Youth Apprentices are featured in Alignment, a show focused on mental health awareness and astrology. In the Resident Gallery at 131 Washington Street Ryan Dean and Madison Emond have organized a group show of AS220 residents and members titled Flora & Fauna.

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The current exhibitions represent a small slice of what AS220 Galleries bring to the table. According to AS220’s website, in 2019, the galleries presented 70 exhibitions with 129 artists, 79 of whom were first-time exhibitors. This is a truly remarkable volume of art.

While the organization’s current exhibitions conclude on March 26, new shows are just around the corner. Opening Saturday, April 2, AS220 will present work by Jacques Bidon in its Aborn Gallery, an exhibition featuring Roberta Uhlman in its Project Space, and in its Main Gallery will exhibit No Place to Call Home, an inquiry into housing insecurity and homelessness in Rhode Island by students from Cityside and The Visual Arts Program at The Wheeler School. With so much to see at AS220 there is no excuse for locals or visitors to miss out on seeing an exciting and ever-changing array of original and dynamic artwork.

 

AS220 Galleries are open to the public from Thursdays through Saturdays 12-5 pm each day. The galleries can also be visited by appointment. Admission is free, and masks are currently required. For more information and to plan a visit, go to AS220.org.

 

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