Signal/Noise (Blue)

Inventory: New Paintings by Lisa Bergh and Andrew Nordin

September 26–October 22, 2014

Opening Reception: Friday, September 26 from 7–9 pm
Artists’ Talk: Tuesday, October 7 at 7 pm

Lisa Bergh and Andrew Nordin present two propositions on painting, abstraction, and image. Using an inventory of individual, shared, and borrowed images, they have created overlapping languages around painting as a process. Bergh pushes and pulls at the boundaries between abstraction and figuration. Nordin examines the gestural language of painting, using chance and repetition to distinguish between visual signals and noise. Collectively, their work balances visual affinities and tensions and acknowledges their shared surroundings.

Lisa Bergh and Andrew Nordin live in the small central Minnesota town of New London. Together, under the collaborative moniker Rural Aesthetic Initiative, they have established projects such as ARThouse, a phantom gallery space in their home, and The Traveling Museum, a mobile lab for art and ideas. Both teach courses at Ridgewater College and St. Cloud State University. In addition, Nordin curates the Ridgewater College exhibition program at the campus galleries in Hutchinson and Willmar. They have received multiple grants, both individually and together—under the auspices of the Rural Aesthetic Initiative—from the Southwest Minnesota Arts Council. The Traveling Museum has received professional development support from the McKnight Foundation.