The Fresh Artists in Recovery (AIR) Gallery will feature an exhibit titled “Mirrors,” with paintings by Kyle Boganwright, 20, an artist who uses his bipolar disorder and alternative outlook as tools for creating his work.
“As a person, you’re given the hand you’re dealt, and you should learn to understand yourself, as opposed to fix yourself,” Boganwright said. “Everybody seems to be out to fix these people, but maybe they’re onto something.”
Fresh AIR Gallery exhibits work by artists suffering from severe and persistent mental illness or substance abuse disorders in an attempt to educate the community and break down negative stereotypes about these individuals.
In 2009, Boganwright was featured in an article in The Columbus Dispatch about taking himself off the bipolar medication, which “put him through ups and downs (he) really didn’t have to go through.” It attracted the attention of the Fresh AIR Gallery. Bipolar disorder is a mental disorder characterized by episodes of irrational and excessive energy and depression.
“I think people with bipolar disorder tend to be more in touch with themselves and the group psyche because they have to become accustomed to their mood fluctuations,” Boganwright said.
Boganwright received the Scholastic Awards for Art and Writing, the same award that Andy Warhol received at 18, and is attending the Columbus College of Art and Design on a full scholarship. He said he doesn’t feel any pressure from receiving the award, but he knows he is going to “leave a fingerprint behind to live on through somebody’s consciousness.”
His mother, Julie Boganwright, is his art manager, adviser and biggest pillar of support. She said she has supported Boganwright’s interest in art since he started drawing dinosaurs at age 3.
Both Boganwright and his mother feel very strongly about alternative education, where teaching methods are adapted to better suit the individual’s strengths and interests.
“He is kind of a different learner, so that was a bit of a struggle,” Julie said. “I would get calls from school, ‘Oh, he’s drawing again!’ A lot of people didn’t understand him when he was a kid and all through school, but I did.”
As a senior at Tolles Career and Technical Center, Boganwright left an impression on Daniel Gerdeman, an art teacher who received his master’s degree in art education at Ohio State in 2004. Gerdeman first handed Boganwright a pen and ink and has been a major influence on Boganwright’s style ever since.
“He has this visionary, outsider style of art- making,” Gerdeman said. “He stood out and he was a tough kid to teach, too. He let it be known that he has some problems with chemical imbalances, which drive him in a really manic way. So I adapted to that as a teacher.”
Boganwright said his manic episodes can last for a single night or months at a time, and he uses them as a tool to get work done.
Gerdeman described Boganwright as a “friggin’ funny weirdo” whose work is heavily influenced by things that are enjoyed by children but become silly when they grow up, “such as the Easter Bunny.”
“He goes back to that time when you first found out Santa isn’t real. Those sad realities. But handling them in a humorous way,” Gerdeman said.
Boganwright said he is inspired by his childhood experiences with the media and cited Cartoon Network’s “Courage the Cowardly Dog” and the British short film series “Wallace and Gromit.” Using a colorful watercolor pallet with dark overtones and ink, he creates “reflections” of himself.
Boganwright’s art “is about dealing with personal demons and allowing viewers to connect with the dark side we all have,” Gerdeman said. “In reality, we all have thoughts that are a little bit crazy, and he illustrates a scatter-brained mind and those dark spider webs we all have underlying.”
“Mirrors” will be open to the public at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday through Nov. 19 at the Fresh AIR gallery at 131 N. High St.
