An exciting, new exhibition titled ‘Free Range’ opens at the Hygienic Art Gallery in New London this evening, May 28, with a reception from 7 to 10 p.m.  Admission is free and all are welcome to attend the reception.

The mixed media exhibition features the work of five young Connecticut artists, who are fundamentally experimental in their work style, materials and methodology. Each artist has a specific approach; all are explorative and continuously evolving. During the preparation for this show, the participating artists found themselves forming collaborations at times. Works developed from these collaborations will be displayed in this exhibition along with individual bodies of work, allowing for a remarkable exhibition featuring both singular and co-produced vision and creation.

The participating artists are Bryan Gorneau, Susan Hickman, Bryan Jerome, Mary Melendez and Robin Urbani.

Bryan Gorneau is a working artist in Old Lyme and also Studio Manager at Studio 80 + Sculpture Grounds in Old Lyme, where he fabricates large-scale, metal sculptures. His work is infused with a youthful curiosity and creative exploration as he deftly dismantles both objects and ideas, seeking to find a new way of understanding and portraying the world around him. Through his work, Gorneau highlights and preserves many of the “headlines” that have punctuated our society’s cultural identity, while redefining their messages from his personal artistic perspective.

Susan Hickman is a mixed media artist and, building on her background in graphic design and photography, she is also a self taught painter and clothing designer. All the materials and textures she uses from one medium to another inform her work, resulting in vibrantly colored, multilayered and highly textural paintings. Currently Hickman is a resident artist at Hygienic Art in New London, Conn. She actively coordinates open studios, art walks, and fashion events, while she continues to experiment with her painting.

Bryan Jerome is a multimedia artist raised in shoreline Connecticut.  He earned his Associates of Arts in Film Making at Rockport College in Maine, and is a professional picture framer with six years experience in Manhattan and a lifetime of framing at his father’s frame shop.  Influences in his life include graffiti culture, pop art, and contemporary artists like Wayne Thiebaud and John Wesley. Jerome confesses that the thrill of putting the unknown permanently on a canvas outweighs the benefits of planning and sketching his ideas beforehand.

Mary Melendez received her BFA from Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford. During her adolescent years, her world was interrupted by an intestinal condition that threatened and altered her life. As an adult much of her art was influenced by medical subject matter. Abstractly it portrayed the relationship between medical utilities/treatments with the human form and identity. Now Melendez also enjoys celebrating pop culture through two-dimensional mixed media and finding minimalism in color experimentation.

Robin Urbani was raised in Black Point, Conn., in a small, eccentric family of painters, gardeners, poets and photographers — creating art has always been a part of her life. Since childhood, Urbani has been drawn to classical figurative sculpture, then the art of puppetry and mask-making; it was not until later that she discovered her love of painting with oils. She prefers to paint from direct observation hoping to transfer the light, color and emotion she feels and sees in the subject. She also finds herself wanting to incorporate fantastic or ethereal imagery from ideas she find compelling. Her work has been shown in galleries in Rhode Island, Connecticut and NYC.

Hygienic Art is a non-profit arts organization dedicated to creating an enriching cultural experience in the city of New London, Conn. It is located at 79 Bank St, New London, CT 06320. Gallery opening hours are Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, 12 to 3 p.m. For further information, call 860-443-8001 or emailhygienicart@gmail.com.