Bly and Greive divergently approach depiction and storytelling through figurative painting, though “Mirror|Mirror” brings these differences together in reverence towards each artist's work. This is pronounced by the inclusion of two portraits -- a portrait of Bly painted by Greive, and a portrait of Greive painted by Bly -- and a collaborative installation that the artists developed together for this exhibit.
Bly was born surrounded by Midwestern iconography and was taught early on of "the fruits of our labors." This ethic became engrained into Bly's imagery, and also into others work that he finds himself attracted to. "I was talking with a close friend one night. We were talking about old things, like mythology, archetypes, Shakespeare, and how these stories repeat themselves over and over,” said Bly. His affinity for a retelling can be seen through his love of mythology and art history, all painted with a feel for the blue-collar conundrum.
Greive’s hyper-realistic compositions reference both classical and contemporary symbolism and iconography. While the primary motivation behind her work is to tease out the nuanced emotions embedded within the human condition and to confront isolation and anxiety born of gender-based stereotypes, she also looks to comment on the contradiction between creating realistic imagery and portraying emotional rawness, as well as the uncompromised truth in the imagery portrayed versus its symbolic ambiguity. Her work has been exhibited at a number of galleries and venues, both regionally and nationally.
The Visual Arts Gallery is centrally located on the UIS campus in the Health and Science Building, Room 201. Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at www.uis.edu/visualarts/gallery or contact the gallery at 217/206-6506 or alach@uis.edu.
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