This is There

This summer, the SPACE Window Gallery is transformed into a dreamlike blue forest through the lush, transportive installation of Half Full (Justin Fell). Steeped in the sensory echoes of memory and the imagined worlds we carry within, Fell’s new work conjures an alluring and contemplative atmosphere, an invitation to wander through the landscapes of the mind.

Known for his folk-tinged painting and drawing practice, this marks Fell’s second foray into storefront installations on Congress Street. In 2021-2022, under the Half Full moniker and before revealing his name to the community, he animated neighboring windows near Monument Square with a grid-format collection of hundreds of drawn character portraits, blending overheard fragments of conversation with invented biographies and inner monologues. That earlier work emerged from a deeply personal response to collective anxiety, processing the chaos of the world through colorful, narrative-driven faces.

Now, Fell shifts from the bustling, human-centered cityscape to an interior wilderness, offering Congress Street passersby a momentary escape into the woods.

Justin Fell (Half Full) is an artist and public school educator living in Portland, Maine. His current works are predominately paintings on repurposed surfaces and cyanotypes made with natural elements from the ocean. The themes of his work include nostalgia, human impact on the natural world, and the connections between people, wildlife and objects.