New Mansfield Gallery Focuses on Less Common Forms of Expression

A new art gallery in Mansfield is inviting local artists of all mediums to showcase their work. Kenosis opened Thursday at 18 South Park Avenue.

“I show art downtown at ArtWorks on Main and I just realized that there’s no place for people to show experimental or performance art, just anything out of the ordinary,” co-owner Jason Kaufman said. “Most of the shows around here just consist of hanging paintings on the wall, but I wanted a space for people to experiment, feel more open and just see what happens.”

Kaufman said he’d like to change out the 196-square-foot space monthly.

GypsyLuc Hargis is the first artist to be featured.

“I am currently working on altered books,” the Bucyrus man said. “Basically, I took old, used, discarded books and transformed them into a work of art. This show is a commentary on how we’re so focused on the immediacy of short text messages & news blurbs. My goal was that instead of fighting against this, show this through art. Each of my books tells a quick narrative. You kind of get this quick little story.”

Kaufman said he hopes to see the community embrace the arts.

“It is my view that artists are important because they guide the viewer toward a direct experience of the mystery of life,” he said. “In viewing art, we learn to directly experience and live in the present."

“Art helps us to look at our world and notice things that we wouldn’t have seen or noticed otherwise,” said Kaufman’s wife, Jenny Lucas.

“There’s a feeling that there is a set way that you have to do art and display it. Some art forms have been given more value than others,” Hargis said. “I think the goal of Kenosis is to expand on where that value is placed.”