Prima Gallery and SoFA collaborate on ‘Fresh’ art exhibit

The natural order of the Bloomington arts community was disrupted Friday night as IU and Bloomington artists collided at a new local exhibit, “Fresh Walls,” in the Prima Gallery.\nGallery Director Betsy Stirratt and Associate Director Robert Off, along with Prima Gallery Director Marcy Neiditz, selected the mix of seven local and IU artists which includes Todd Frahm, Melanie Frankes, Nicole Jacquard, Lara Nguyen, Ryan Mandell, Derek Parker, Mark Rice and Robb Stone. \nThe exhibit features approximately 40 pieces of artwork. Each artist generated at least one new work specifically for “Fresh Walls.” The variety of artwork includes mixed media, wood, metal, bronze sculptures, wall hangings and large cap resin pieces, Neiditz said. \nEach artist had a unique explanation to support the reasoning behind their work. SoFA professor Nguyen utilized a familial inspiration for her charcoal drawings.\n “My work is a tool for fusing autobiographical fact with figments of my imagination,” Nguyen wrote in her artistic statement. “In drawings and paintings I hope to evoke memories of childhood, incarnations of daydreams, or the like.”\nFrahm, a sculptor, focuses less on what encourages his art and more on what he wishes his art to achieve. \n“My greatest ambition is to leave the viewer with a slightly skewed perception of something, which they had previously taken as common knowledge,” Frahm said in his artistic statement.\nAlthough the artists’ work is individually generated and not unified as a whole, Neiditz arranges the artwork in a way that creates a kind of dialogue between the pieces, she said.\n“When you walk in the door you don’t feel drawn to one artwork, you want to explore all of them because of the way they fit together,” Neiditz said. \nTwo charcoal drawings hung on opposite sides of the space creates a tension between the two, Neiditz said. Colorful sculptures feel appropriately placed in front of equally colorful paintings.\n“It activates the space,” she said.\n For Neiditz, incorporating art from artists within the town and from the university is important.\nThe SoFa and Prima Gallery collaboration is beneficial not only to artists, but it also helps Neiditz target a new audience.\n“We get people to come in by keeping (the gallery) fresh, new, different,” she said. “It’s good for the art market.” \nThe “Fresh Walls” exhibit is on display at Prima Gallery, 109 E. Sixth St., until May 31. Admission is free to the public.