Daric Gill’s piece, “Absolute: Totality.” An oil painting on reclaimed wood panel. Credit: Courtesy of Daric Gill
The Schumacher Gallery, located on Capital University’s campus, is a permanent home to more than 2,500 pieces of art. The pieces within its walls span more than 2,000 years and include the work of artists such as Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder and Francisco Goya, among many others.
Each year, the gallery hosts five or six temporary shows in order to showcase artists from Columbus and beyond. A reception will be held Thursday for the opening of two exhibits: “Vessels,” created by a group of 12 female artists, and “The Absolutes by Daric M. Gill.”
Gallery director David Gentilini said he chose Gill’s collection for the showcase gallery because he believed it would go well with the “Vessels” exhibit, which will be located in the main space.
“Whatever we’re putting in the main space, I try to find something that is a good complement for our showcase gallery,” Gentilini said. “Our ‘Vessels’ show is 12 women sculptors. Some pieces are very heavy and hard for the ‘Vessels,’ but some are also delicate. I thought that [Gill’s] work was both heavy and masculine, but very delicate and fragile at the same time.”
Gill practices interdisciplinary art, which he described as the triathlete version of an artist. He studied sculpture and painting for both his undergraduate degree at Columbus College of Art and Design and for his master’s at the University of Cincinnati and excels in variety of artforms.
Detail shot of “Absolute: Totality.” Credit: Courtesy of Daric Gill
The inspiration for “The Absolutes” expanded from his interest in western iconography and the origins of our symbols outside of the alphabet. As he studied these topics, he began to see parallels in philosophy.
Daric Gill’s piece, “Absolute: Insulation.” An oil painting on reclaimed cherry wood. Credit: Courtesy of Daric Gill
“There was this epiphany where I just started realizing that we were trying to say the same things in words as we were doing in our own philosophies,” Gill said. “Why not try to also develop a visual language to say similar things? Over the years that has developed into my own language.”
In this collection of artwork, Gill used reclaimed wood as a canvas for oil paintings to tell a story. He said each element within the series is personified to resemble a human situation.
“I’m just trying to distill our examples of our daily living, all of the things we deal with,” Gill said. ”It’s like a human situation and timeless expression of personal moments.”
Gentilini said these events hold great importance for the patrons, the gallery and the artists involved. Everyone gains new types of exposure and the artists get to show their art in the same place that pieces by artists such as Picasso and Roy Lichtenstein are displayed.
“It should and does develop a community the more you expose yourself,” Gentilini said. “Look at all these pieces and how everyone flows together. The experience of sharing that as a museum and as an education facility, I think it’s super important.”
Both “Vessels” and “The Absolutes” exhibits will be on display from Jan. 15 to March 28 with an opening reception Thursday starting at 5 p.m. and ending at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free.
