R. JUSTIN STEWART DOCUMENTATION OF "DISTORTING (A MESSIAH PROJECT, 13C) NOW ON VIMEO

One of the hardest working artists in the field today, R. Justin Stewart launched his latest installation "Distorting (A Messiah Project, 13c) at the Invisible Dog Art Center in NYC.  He recently posted two terrific videos that allow us to experience the work (and installation of it) online.


http://vimeo.com/38593858
http://vimeo.com/38195895


Plus Gallery artist Riva Sweetrocket visited Justin for the opening  and sent us a couple of images from her new home in NYC!

TERRIFIC IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW WITH PLUS GALLERY ARTIST R. JUSTIN STEWART IN NY'S L-MAGAZINE

In conjunction with his upcoming string of East-coast exhibitions, NY's L-Magazine has devoted a large amount of space to an interview with Plus Gallery artist R. Justin Stewart.  Apparently they found him and his work as stimulating as we do:

".......But this is my first piece where I'm engaging with information that is slightly volatile, and I'm a little bit nervous about what that's going to be like. People do weird stuff about religion." - R. Justin Stewart, 3 hour interview with L-Magazine

Read the full text online at http://www.thelmagazine.com/newyork/inside-the-artists-studio-r-justin-stewart-in-bed-stuy/Content?oid=2215450

PLUS GALLERY ARTIST R. JUSTIN STEWART COMMENCES NEW SERIES OF NY EXHIBITIONS MARCH 10TH

Plus Gallery artists R. Justin Stewart has created some of the most striking installations in the country by an emerging artist in the last decade, works that are both intellectually and formally complex. In 2012 he will unveil "The Messiah Project," a series of exhibitions that take on a controversial theme and update it in a thoroughly contemporary context.  His first kicks off on March 10th at the Invisible Art Center in Brooklyn, NY:

DISTORTING (A MESSIAH PROJECT, 13C)
Opening Reception is on March 10th 6-10pm

March 10 - May 5th 2012
The Invisible Art Center
51 Bergen St Brooklyn, NY

When most people think of "the Messiah," they can have a singular view of what the concept captures, represented by our contemporary understanding. "Distorting (a messiah project, 13C)," is the first installation in a research intensive series of sculptures and installations that challenges conventional wisdom around one of history's most controversial subjects. "Distorting," an intricate web of fleece, rope, and plastic, is a three-dimensional representation of the concept of the messiah, as it existed in the 13th Century. As viewers move through and around the installation, they will find QR (quick response) codes embedded throughout the sculpture. By scanning those codes with cell phones or other mobile devices, they will be able to access the bit of data each pod represents and therefore begin to draw connections between the sculptural elements and the history of the messianic concept. "Distorting," part of the larger "a messiah project" series, will be installed on the ground floor of the Invisible Dog Art Center, curated by Risa Shoup.

 

Stewart will follow up with a heavy itinerary this spring and early summer:


ILLUMINATING DATA: VISUALIZING THE INFORMATION THAT MOVES OUR WORLD
March 14 through April 19, 2012
The College of New Jersey Art Gallery
2000 Pennington Road Ewing, NJ
tcnjartgallery.pages.tcnj.edu

DISTORTING (A MESSIAH PROJECT, 14C)
March 23 - April 1st
37th St Chashama Space
266 West 37th Street New York, NY
www.chashama.org

(UN)FOLDING PATTERNS
May 20th - July 22nd, 2012
Dorsky Gallery
11-03 45th Ave, Long Island City, NY
www.dorsky.org

PLUS GALLERY ARTISTS IN EXHIBITIONS THROUGHOUT COLORADO AND NY

Jon Rietfors: "Value Added" solo exhibition. Opens December 9th, on view through March 25th at the Loveland Museum of Art

Kate Petley: "Gline: Time and Light" installation in group exhibition. Opens December 2nd, on view through January 14th at the Lincoln Center Art Gallery in Fort Collins

Tsehai Johnson: "Strange Beauty: Baroque Sensibilities in Contemporary Art" group exhibition. Opens December 6th, on view through February 14th, 2012 at IDEA Space in the Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center, Colorado College, Colorado Springs

Justin Stewart: "Fully Empty #2" installation in group exhibition "The Longest Night. "Opens December 9th, on view through December 18th at Gowanus Ballroom in Brooklyn, NY

Melissa Furness: "A Feminine Contemporary Sublime" group exhibition. On view through December 21st at the A.I.R. Gallery in NYC

THE LONGEST NIGHT BY R. JUSTIN STEWART @ GOWANUS BALLROOM

Plus Gallery aritist and sensation R. Justin Stewart will present "Fully Empty #2," a large scale installation @ Gowanus Ballroom as a part of "The Longest Night," a group exhibition that is all about paying a bit of Brooklyn-style homage to the winter solstice. Drawing inspiration from the longest night of the year, the show explores darkness and light through artworks that mesmerize and sometimes deceive the eye.

Sounds a little bit like the art world gone pagan, right? Because it is as artists contemporize ancient ritual and totemic celebration through modern artistic expression. Featured objects all but defy their materiality and toy with the peculiarities and sensualities that come with the absence of light. Labyrinthine interactive pieces play on ideas of negative and positive space, altering the atmosphere and leaving a potent experiential mark on viewers. Artworks range across media, from painting, drawing, and sculpture to photography, installation, and 3D light mapping projections and performances.

Artists include Jordan Eagles, Leandro Flaherty, Shani Frymer, Robin Hill, Jeremy Holmes, Serban Ionescu, Integrated Visions, Margaret Krug, Kate Raudenbush, Cecelia Rembert, Matthew William Robinson, Charlotte Schulz, R. Justin Stewart, Melanie Vote, Dustin Yellin, and Joshua Young.

Opening Reception
Friday, December 9, 2011
Doors open at 6pm
$5 suggested donation after 8pm

Gowanus Ballroom
55 9th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215

Dates & Times
December 9-11 & 16-18
Fridays: Doors open at 6pm
Saturdays: Doors open at 12pm
Sundays: 12-6
Weekdays: Viewings available by appointment, 347.460.2687

R. JUSTIN STEWART IN COLORADO SPRINGS

Plus Gallery artist R. Justin Stewart continues a year of invitational exhibitions at institutions throughout the country, this time returning to Colorado for the exhibition "Systematizing" at the Galleries of Contemporary Art at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.  Opening this Thursday evening, November 4th and on view through December 16th, "Systematizing: part 1" features a site-specific installation titled "fully empty 2," which is composed of numerous pods made of a fabric body and end caps which are linked by rope to each other and the surrounding architecture. Through the installation process, the ropes create tension on the pods, giving shape to the otherwise limp fabric forms. Each unit is defined by its placement within the installation, such that its shape is determined by its relationship to its neighboring units and vice versa, allowing it to form organically. There is no blueprint for the overall installation, but rather the work grows piece by piece in an emergent fashion. In other words, another taut masterpiece by this exceptional emerging artist.

Listen to an interview live at 8pm with Justin tonight on the Untitled Art Show, also available for download as a podcast from their website after the show.

FINAL NEWS FOR END OF SUMMER 2010

Canadian Art Critic Murray Whyte responds to Plus Gallery pres on "You Are Here" in the Denver Post, we encourage anyone who has an opinion to join in this discussion, it has provided some interesting dialogue already both on his blog as well as our facebook posting and we feel it's important to get anything originating from Denver to circulate across state and country lines:

http://thestar.blogs.com/untitled/2010/08/yes-there-is-canadian-art-so-says-denver-yes-denver-.html 




Several Plus Gallery artists have exhibitions upcoming and in the works.  Brendan Tang's ceramic sculpture's from "You Are Here" will next travel to the 67th Scripps Ceramic Annual at the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery in California in January, anyone interested in adding these works to their personal collection are recommended to do so.  With the additional pedigree of the Scripps show as well as his Sobey Art Award exhibition this November,  these are undeniably some of the most prestigious and investment-worthy works in the gallery right now.


Allie Pohl has just finished installing a new piece from her "ideal woman" series at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley for an exhibition that launches this weekend.  Here's a quick view she sent us yesterday:

R. Justin Stewart may be one of the most sought-after emerging artists in the country right now, he has several upcoming exhibitions including a group show from September 9th - October 9th at one of our favorite Chelsea spots the Winkleman Gallery.  Works last seen in his Plus Gallery solo exhibition from July of 2009 will be on view at the Soo Visual Art Center in Minneapolis, MN from September 18th-October 31st in the exhibition "Systematics."  And finally, the H & R Block Space in Kansas City, MO will host the group exhibition "(Re)Formed" from October 8th-December 10th with Stewart's work as part of the group

That's all for the next two weeks, we hope you will mark your calendars for september 9th and plan on joining us that evening to commence our fall season opener featuring new works by Kate Petley.

R. JUSTIN STEWART IN A RASH OF NEW EXHIBITIONS COMING UP

Plus Gallery's R. Justin Stewart, another rising star on the national scene, will be included in several upcoming exhibitions this spring throughout the United States, including a major solo exhibition at the Mesa Art Center in Arizona.  Here's a snapshot of what's in store for the artist:

March 12th- April 4th 2010

Group Exhibition "The World we live in" at Like the Spice, NYC
http://www.likethespice.com/worldwelivein/worldwelivein.html 

April 2 - August 8, 2010

Solo Exhibition "2am-2pm" at Mesa Art Center in Mesa, AZ
http://www.mesaartscenter.com 

"2am-2pm investigate the ramifications of trying to engage with a complex or simplistic world.  We are constantly flooded with an abundance of visual information that surpasses our capacity to comprehend it. In order to function, we filter the visual information by abstracting, abbreviating, and categorizing. Transit systems assist riders by providing simplified tools for engaging with the infrastructure; complex routes are reduced to basic maps and the thousands of scheduled stops are organized into navigable matrices. 2am-2pm removes these filters and presents a three-dimensional model of the Sunday Minneapolis / St. Paul public transit system, where the horizontal axes represent directional movement and the vertical represents time. The piece is constructed of 47 horizontal layers, each forming a map of the bus routes that run during a given interval of time. Looking down from the top, one sees the Sunday bus map of the Twin Cities, while looking from the side, the times appears as strata building upwards. Within each layer, every transit route that operates at that time is represented by wood balls placed at its scheduled stops. The piece is suspended by 300 blue threads, allowing the structure to be visible from all angles."

April 9 -May 23, 2010

Group Exhibition "Complification" at GAGA Art Center, lower Hudson Valley, NY
http://www.gagaartscenter.org