Justin Richel
A Window, A Door, A Ladder
Roswell Artist-in-Residence Exhibition
January 8 - February 19, 2021
Roswell Museum and Art Center
Continuing with his interest in artifice, simulacra and trickster mythologies, Richel’s recent body of work delves deeper into the inquiry of painting itself. The impetus for this recent body of work began with a simple line of questioning.
“What is a painting?”
Perhaps the simplest answer to that question, is its materiality.
• Traditionally: Paint, canvas, and wood supports.
“What is the function of a painting?”
• A window or portal, an aperture.
• A framework or ideology.
• An object of and for contemplation.
Adhering to the subsequent list, the work within the exhibition is simply constructed from paint, canvas and wood.
The exhibition title; A Window, A Door, A Ladder, refers to the internal and external world, psychological states of mind and thresholds to alternative possibilities. Archetypal by nature, these forms feature large in dreamscapes as well as our waking lives. They represent bridges between awareness and the unconscious.
“Without knowing it, I had opened a window onto something else. It was a sort of loophole. You know, I’ve always felt this need to escape myself...” - Marcel Duchamp
Richel received a BFA from Maine College of Art and later studied the technique of icon painting at the Franciscan Monastery in Kennebunk, Maine. He has been awarded residencies at the Fine Arts Work Center (MA), the Monhegan artists’ residency (ME) and an Arts/Industry residency at Kohler Co. (WI), His work is held in the collections of the Portland Museum of Art (ME), the John Michael Kohler Art Center (WI) and Fidelity Investments (MA), and has exhibited widely at various museums and art centers including, the Wadsworth Atheneum (CT), DeCordova Sculpture Park & Museum (MA), Ogunquit Museum of American Art (ME), the Center for Maine Contemporary Art (ME), the Fitchburg Art Museum (MA) and the Institute of Contemporary Art (ME).
To learn more about the artist, please visit www.justinrichel.com
The Roswell Museum and Art Center is located at 1011 N. Richardson Ave. Visiting hours are Tuesday through Friday, 1 PM to 5 PM. Call 575-624-6744 for more information or visit their website at www.roswellmuseum.org
Photo by Tonee Harbert (RAiR 2019-20)