Bed-Stuy Artist Turns Supermarket Circulars into Works of Art

“Layering transcends into life.”

This is how Bed-Stuy resident and artist Roman Gasowski describes his latest work, "A Decade of Thought," a series of paintings on display at the Presents Gallery, located at 64 Washington Ave, starting October 21.

The paintings are a series of images and iconography that have been drawn/painted on top of one of the most unusual backdrops, supermarket circulars.

“For years I have been looking at these circular fliers, they [supermarkets] just annoy you and completely inundate you with them. But I realized that there might be something more you can do with them.” said Gasowski about his artistic choice.

“My work is made from 100% recycled materials.”

“Layers” would be the best description of Gasowski’s work, integrating paint and markers atop circulars glued onto poster boards. His use of contrasting colors gives the circulars a much more prominent role in his work, with the various colors playing off each other.

“Layering of the earth, fossils, dirt... as things become layered they become more complex but still make up a larger simpler picture as a whole,” said Gasowski.

Some of the inspiration comes from Haitian art, Gasowski explained. His wife is Haitian and he has spent a lot of time on the island. Other influences include urban street artists, graffiti, city living and tribal images from the past.

“I like real simple but effective designs,” said Gasowski, who also uses Ragski as his art moniker.

He points to Brooklyn as an inspiration, drawing on the borough's diversity and multi-layered cultural aesthetic, as well the theme of the over-commercialization of life.

“Brooklyn, like my art, it is multi layered and complex.”

Originally from Michigan, Gasowski first moved to Chicago before settling in Brooklyn. His entire life, he has been to urban life, he said. “I’m originally from the rural, rural country side. But urban, inner city life always seemed to capture my imagination, my spirit was drawn to it."

After seven years in Chicago, he made his way to New York City, after deciding that Chicago, artistically, wasn’t enough for him.

Although he his study of focus was film and visual arts, Gasowski transitioned into sculptures and paintings as his career progressed. He says that being an artist has always been in his blood.

“My father is an artist, my uncle is an artist, and my grandfather is an artist, you could say each generation has inherited being an artist, and my children will continue the tradition as well,” he said.

Now a family man, with a wife and two daughters, Gasowski says that while art is his true passion, he must also supplement his income with other jobs. He is currently a NYC public school substitute working on becoming an art teacher full time. He is also a skilled carpenter, which is part of the reason he was attracted to making sculptures, having picked up the skill as a young boy in Michigan.  

 ‘A decade of thought’ will hold it’s opening reception on Friday October 21, from 6-8 p.m. and continue to run through December 30, 2011. Gasowski will be the only artist showing at the Gallery, and while this is his fifth major art show, it will be his first big one in NYC.

For more on ‘A decade of thought,’ you can visit Brooklyn Works 2011 or go to PresentsGallery.net.