by SC Features Reporter Reanna Haase
The BIG ARTS Dunham Family Gallery is set to house a magical exhibit of mixed mediums, designed to immerse the viewer in artwork that invites the freedom to explore and release senseless fears that hold individuals back from their full potential, later this month.
“The idea of nature sort of being reconstructed in a fantastical way, in an unlikely way, jars our preconceived notions of what the world is supposed to be like,” said Wilson McCray, BIG ARTS Gallery Director. “I think that, if you can open yourself, as the viewer, to new worlds and then you experience these new worlds in the gallery – you can leave lighter and freer and with a feeling of [being] liberated from your own fears and limitations.”
Swedish artists Monika Larsen Dennis and Frida Oliv are bringing their specialties of sculpture and painting together to showcase the Impediments and Byways to Love on the Road to Eternity exhibit to Sanibel from March 14 to April 27, with BIG ARTS.
“The things that happen here, when the two of their works are together, really create a kind of magical atmosphere,” McCray said.
Oliv and Larsen Dennis are connected through their history of creating and curating public art displays through the Swedish Arts Council. When Larsen Dennis served as the council’s Project Manager l and researched nature painters in Sweden, she considered Oliv to be one of the most interesting of all, according to the artists’ exhibit biographies.
The creation of this exhibit began when Larsen Dennis met McCray at another exhibit held at the Dunham Family Gallery in 2023, which showcased the works of Dana Roes, in collaboration with poet Brandi George. When Larsen Dennis pitched the idea of doing the exhibit to McCray, she knew she wanted to partner with Oliv, because of their contrasting mediums, yet similar inspirations, McCray said.
“It’s really important to me, as a curator, to work with collaborators. I love to see artists working together and coming up with an exhibit where their works complement each other and this was immediately an example of a very strong collaboration,” McCray said.
Larsen Dennis and McCray agree that the artwork must fill the energy of the entire space and the placement of every piece of artwork plays an important role in taking the viewer on a journey.
“We’ve been planning this for quite a long time, and it’s going to be striking,” McCray said.
This exhibit will be set up so the viewer can enjoy it in any order. Larsen Dennis explained that beauty lies in the freedom that going to a gallery gives people – she welcomes people to come in and explore themselves, through her and Oliv’s artwork, as little or as much as they would like to.
“You can come into a space where you can feel ‘Oh somebody has made an intention here and I am being taken care of, as a viewer, to experience something that I cannot experience [in] any other place in the world’,” Larsen Dennis said.
Oliv’s work distorts the division of fantasy and reality, aiming to aid the viewer in releasing fears that may be holding them back from the most loving version of themselves, according to the artist exhibit brochure. Larsen Dennis’ work complements by focusing on how people treat matters of the heart, suggesting that people look inside and question parts of themselves that may seem taboo.
“You don’t have to understand everything. You can take in whatever you want and that’s freedom,” Larsen Dennis said.
Larsen Dennis detailed that artwork does not have to be fully understood intellectually to nourish one’s body and soul. Good art is like love, you can’t explain it, but you can clearly feel it, Oliv added.
“I sometimes think that if I just get one sentence out of the whole book, it’s worth reading the book,” Larsen Dennis said. “We have a fast society, that kind of doesn’t let us reflect so much, because there’s simply no time… So, we’re just merely creating a space where there is time for you to be curious – to get as much or as little as you want.”
Larsen Dennis shared that she hopes people can use this exhibit as a place to come and go, as entrance is free of charge, with friends or family, and explore.
The opening reception, where viewers can hear firsthand from Larsen Dennis about her and Oliv’s work, will be held on March 15 from 5 to 7 pm in the gallery at 900 Dunlop Rd. You can read more information about the artists and exhibit here.
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