Chaos and order meet in 'Negentrophy' exhibit at Fermilab
The Fermilab Art Gallery presents "Negentropy," with paintings and etchings by Renee Robbins and Bruce Riley. It is on display through Dec. 26. A reception to meet the artists will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26, in the gallery on the second floor of Wilson Hall, off Kirk Road and Pine Street in Batavia. It is free and open to the public.
A gallery talk will be offered at noon Wednesday, Oct. 15, in the gallery. To register for the Gallery Talk, email Georgia@fnal.gov.
The Fermilab Art Gallery is a space for art exhibitions, chamber music concerts and where the top quark and big bang are debated over coffee. It is also a quiet space for contemplation and beauty. The gallery is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays. Sign in at the Wilson Hall atrium reception desk. For more about the gallery, visit fnal.gov/pub/Art_Gallery/.
The "Negentropy" exhibit features paintings and etchings by Bruce Riley and Renee Robbins. Both artists share an interest in vivid color, obsessive detail, nature and science. Physicist Erwin Schrödinger introduced the concept of negative entropy (negentropy) to explain the order of a living system compared to the chaos surrounding it. While entropy refers to the state of disorder in macroscopic systems, negentropy lies at the intersection of entropy and life. The term negentropy is used to describe the storage of energy as opposed to its release toward equilibrium or entropy. In the artwork, this parallels to a macroscopic view that slowly gives way to more detail. A complex web of energies and symbols is stored in different sections of the artwork. The artists achieve this through a process of painting that moves between abstraction and representation, chaos and order. Both artists' work blurs the opposites of microscopic and macroscopic as it moves between worlds that are imagined and real. Robbins' paintings create a window into a rich universe of indiscernible scale with patterns of systemic flow and visual poetry. Riley's paintings are lush objects that present enigmatic narratives. "Negentropy" touches on the overarching theme for this collection of artworks and pulls from the rich intersection of science, nature, and art.
Riley has been working on the south side of Chicago since 1992 after relocating from Cincinnati. As a self-taught artist, he has been exhibiting since 1980. His work is represented by Packer Schopf Gallery in Chicago and Miller Gallery in Cincinnati. In 2013, Packer Schopf Gallery hosted his solo exhibit "Psychedelic." Recent group shows include Urban Institute of Contemporary Art and the Grand Rapids Museum of Art, both in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Hee has received grants from; Pollock-Krasner Foundation Inc., Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation Inc., Arts Midwest/NEA Regional Visual Arts Fellowship Award, Ohio Arts Council, Illinois Arts Council Finalist Award and The Contemporary Arts Center. For more on Riley, visit bruce-riley.com.
Robbins has been working as a visual artist in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood since 2007. She received her bachelor in fine art degree from the University of Kentucky and a master's from Michigan State University.
Recent solo exhibitions include Firecat Projects, the Union League Club, South Shore Arts, and Ann Tower Gallery. Her work has been presented in exhibitions at the Alden B Dow Museum of Science and Art, South Bend Art Museum, Alexandria Museum, and the Kresge Art Museum. The Chicago Gallery News featured her work as a "Young Chicago Artist" to watch in the May 2013 issue. The forms in her paintings have been classified by a diatom taxonomist in an artist feature on the US Diatoms database at the University of Colorado. Currently, she has a solo exhibit, "Aquatic Kaleidoscope," at Lubeznik Center for the Arts in Michigan City, Indiana and has work in group exhibits at Angela Meleca Gallery in Columbus, Ohio and Packer Schopf Gallery.
For more on Robbins, visit reneerobbins.com.