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The third round of Artboards goes up around Providence

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Keep your eyes open for three new art installations on billboards in Providence and Central Falls. These original works of art are the latest edition of Artboards RI – a year long project dedicated to bringing the work of local artists to junior billboards in the area’s urban neighborhoods.

Micah Barrett’s eye-catching piece, featuring a banana being unwrapped to reveal a Twinkie, can be seen at 551 Dexter Street, Central Falls. Barrett received a BFA in Graphic Design from RISD in 2012, He is currently an adjunct faculty member in that department and leads the design team in RISD’s media group. “I was really excited I was given the opportunity to interrupt the visual landscape traditionally owned by advertisers,” says Barrett of his participation in Artboards RI. He hopes that viewers will see his image and be “surprised or disgusted” by it, and ultimately drawn to conversations about “what’s in the food we eat and how it is grown.” That is precisely the idea behind Artboards RI – engaging the community in conversations through art. Barrett’s billboard is sponsored by RISD.

AS220 Youth member Justin Espinal’s photography is on display at 993 North Main Street in Providence. According to AS220’s website, Espinal’s image, titled Miss Moreta, was created “using Adobe Photoshop to combine photos of a friend and of buildings in downtown Providence.” In 2012, Espinal received a White House award from First Lady Michelle Obama on behalf of AS220 Youth, a free arts program for young people ages 14-21, with a special focus on those in the care and custody of the state. Espinal, who uses pencil, pen and a film or digital camera for his art, is also working on a portrait project at Kennedy Plaza with other AS220 students. The joint project combines information gleaned from random interviews of people passing through Kennedy Plaza with photographs of the interviewees, to “capture the diversity of people living in Rhode Island.” His Artboards RI billboard is sponsored by AS220 Youth.

The third installation, a work by world-renowned artist Entang Wiharso, titled Perfect Mirror, can be seen at 1115 Broad Street in Providence. Wiharso has been called “one of Indonesia’s most prominent contemporary artists” by The New York Times. He uses many mediums, including paint, sculpture, video and performance art, to examine political and cultural landscapes. Wiharso lives and works in Providence and in his home country of Indonesia. He is represented by Marc Straus Gallery in New York and by the Arndt Gallery in Berlin and Singapore. He has exhibited in galleries and museums all over the world – from Providence, Rhode Island to Kalamazoo, Michigan, to Milan, Venice, Rome and Jakarta. His Artboards RI work is sponsored by the Providence Tourism Council.

Billboards previously installed through Artboards RI will remain in place until another advertiser buys the space. They showcased works by Ruth Dealy (384 Valley Street), Mark Freedman (221 Allens Avenue), Wilson Aguilar (800 Charles Street), Bob Dilworth (382 Broad Street), Ida Schmulowitz (Dean Street at Westminster) and Cesare DeCredico (845 Potters Avenue). The fourth and final set of billboards will be installed in mid-summer.

Micah Barrett, artboards ri, Justin Espinal, AS220 Youth, Entang Wiharso, mary k connor, east side monthly, local art

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