The project space
The Project Space at ABFA is a 15 x 15 ft. area dedicated to a rotating program of experimental projects and special exhibitions. The intimate environment challenges perceptions of scale and space through installation considerations and juxtapositions. The space serves as a playground for exhibition ideas which may be outside of our gallery’s central program. The space allows us to invite artists whose work we find compelling and innovative.
Artists represented by ABFA have an opportunity to exhibit smaller bodies of work, a new series, or works from their studio that bring us further into their process; creating a channel of communication that connects artist and viewer. The Project Space is located at the back of our first floor main gallery.
If you would like to submit a proposal for the Project space, please email your project proposal with images to:
Current Exhibition:
Joseph Mayernik Issue No. 3, circa 2025
7 November - 27 DECEMBER 2025
Opening Reception: Friday, November 7, 2025 | 6-9PM Mid-Exhibition Reception: Friday, December 5, 2025 | 6-9PM
Show Description:
ISSUE No.3, Circa, 2025
COMIC BOOKS ARE DESTINED TO LIVE A LONELY LIFE.
The best ones are sequestered in plastic, stored away in cardboard boxes—only occasionally admired for their covers. Their stories, illustrations, and heroes are trapped in time by a simplified but villainous trap set by the comic book’s true archenemy: The Elements—air, water, mold, and the oils from our hands.
The Hero Collage series sets our heroes free and over exaggerates them. With their large size, the viewer is forced to be overwhelmed by the story. Every Hero Collage takes comics and re-imagines them into unique works of art. The focus is on taking what is meant to be viewed as linear and exploding it on a flat surface to be enjoyed all at once.
Each Hero Collage consists of only certain comics within the book title. There’s an intentional choice to focus on certain storylines—no random filler issues, no unrelated titles. Each comic book resigns itself to sacrifice through selection. It is a puzzle without directions.
The result is an experience steeped in nostalgia. Viewers explore, read, and rediscover the story, reminiscing about a simpler time—when life’s only demand was to sit down and read a comic book. Even if that comic was safely sealed in plastic, hidden away in a closet, protected from the light.
About the Artist:
Taking vintage comic books and reinterpreting them into large-scale works of art.
Yes, he cuts up vintage comic books into tiny pieces. Sacrilege? Travesty? Horrible? Quite possibly, but each work of art allows the comics to reach their fullest potential. Joseph’s art sets heroes free and exaggerates them. With their large size, the viewer is forced to be overwhelmed by the story. Every Hero Collage takes what is meant to be viewed as linear, and explodes it on a flat surface to be enjoyed all at once. Each consists of only certain comics within the book title, and to complete the art, Joseph places a portion of the mastheads on the back of the canvases. There is an intentional choice to exploit certain storylines. No other random comic titles are included as filler. Each comic book resigns itself to sacrifice through selection. Each is a puzzle without directions.
Joseph’s is a proud graduate of the Center for Creative Studies located in Detroit, Michigan. His Hero Collage artwork has been in exhibitions from Florida to Michigan and New York, to California to Toyko. He also has many works of art in private collections across the United States.