Library Street Collective is proud to present new work from Detroit native AJ Fosik. The exhibition, From Ripe to Rot, explores the aesthetics of impermanence through totems of hallucinatory beasts and is the artist’s most refined work to date. Inspired by the spectacle of nature, Fosik has forged a distinctive visual language to convey the divine attributes of ephemerality through vivid architectural works.

A visual artist and masterful craftsman, Fosik’s elaborate three-dimensional wood constructions demonstrate an unparalleled talent and vision for the medium. Using intricate fragments of wood, each hand carved and individually assembled, Fosik has developed an iconography for the present moment, evocative of timeless representations of spirituality and psychic folklore. “I think sometimes people mistake my work for the macabre but in fact it is the opposite, I use imagery tied to the impermanence of being in my work as a celebration of this brief time we have,” says Fosik.

For Fosik, who now lives in Portland, Oregon, an exhibition in Detroit is particularly meaningful, “my family goes back generations in Detroit so this exhibition means a lot to me. Detroit is a special place.” However, it’s not only the artist’s personal history with the city that lends itself to the powerful nature of the exhibition. The work itself is reflective of the city’s soul, a place that continues to evolve and transform as an enduring symbol of reinvention.