Pillbox

More than just paintings on the wall

Oscar Wilde once said “Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.” This year, The Frame gallery tends to agree. Attempting to branch out, its directors are mixing up the notion of the stare-at-the-walls art show, and they are promoting diversity.

Every year, the student-run organization showcases artistic works of students to promote experimental art to the community. Art students usually dominate, but this year, the co-directors strove to include students from majors other than art and from colleges other than CFA. “We gave a lot of preference to people who applied outside of [art] and had interesting ideas,” said Michael Kontopoulos, co-director of The Frame. The result? “We got a lot of ambitious projects,” he said.

He and co-director Nathan Lee are expanding upon the idea of a space with four walls — and not limiting the art space to paintings and snacks. The focus, according to Lee, is “really trying to create something for the space.”

The Frame began as a storefront for a pharmacy. In 1969, Aladar Marberger, an art dealer/director, turned it into The Gallery, an art space. It was originally used to provide exhibition space for staff and students. In a span of almost 30 years, The Gallery changed names three more times, finally settling on the Frame in 1998.

This year’s schedule is stuffed with different themes and projects. The co-directors stressed their goal of including art from many different types of students. “This semester, we did a better job than in the past [of] trying to schedule more shows proposed by people from different colleges,” said Kontopoulos.

Kontopoulos and Lee’s effort to spread the word will not go unnoticed: On Friday, there will be a party for the first opening, sponsored by the School of Art. Eager to display the individualism and uniqueness in art, the director hopes that the Frame’s celebration of diversity in art will attract people outside of CFA to the Frame.