Roy G Biv Gallery

3.5 stars, rounding up. Not a bad space – though a trifle small – to check out the fruits of central Ohioans’ creative endeavors. I saw a girl get painted here once (that is, someone was applying colorful streaks of paint onto her body, not merely painting her portrait … okay). The photo exhibitions I’ve browsed through here are sort of on the small side, but I think I just happen to visit when the less comprehensive shows are on display.
I plan to see the Columbus Dispatch staffers’ show soon (having left the Short North early last Saturday, and deciding to miss the exhibition’s Gallery Hop première). If you’re curious about it, then you should too.

I’m going to admit right off the bat that I don’t know all that much about art. It’s never really been my thing. But just a few months back, my friend’s art was on exhibit at Roy G Biv so I decided to check it out.
It seemed like a really spacious and classy gallery. The glass storefront windows and the hardwood floors made all the noise in the gallery echo. The white walls were covered with the artist’s work, and my friend had her video being projected on the back wall of the gallery. It was a very nice presentation of her work. You could even see it from the sidewalk through the windows, so you wouldn’t necessarily even have to go inside to see some of the art.
I’m not sure if it’s always like this, but it was pretty crowded and quite loud due to all the echoing. It was also around 9 at night on a weekend, so maybe it gets busy at those times. But I think it was a nice place and a good spot to see my friend’s artwork.
Parking was hard to find since the Short North was so full of traffic at the time, so I had to walk a ways. But the location of the gallery is perfect for events such as Gallery Hop. It was also free to get in, I’m assuming that it always is.

ROY G BIV is huge! They have fantastic, large windows. I have often been impressed by their exhibit displays when I walk by on the street.
But going inside is a different story. It smells overwhelmingly like Pinesol. And for being such a huge gallery, they don’t always make the best use of their space. It often seems empty. I went in during the last Hop and was totally unimpressed with one of the two artists they had. He just painted canvases blue then layered black paint over the blue and called it a day. Or he would paint a series of three gold squares. It didn’t really lure any feelings out of me or anything. Well, actually, it did make me a little angry. Everyone who came in professed, «I could do that,» which is my least favorite thing to hear in a gallery setting.
The second artist was pretty interesting. He took big sheets of double paned framed glass and dripped paint down each pane or stamped out designs or silkscreened them. It made for a cool effect. I stood there for a long time admiring the subtle nuances. He also had a bunch of black and gold pieces done the same way. They were all squares, maybe 4“x4″. They filled an entire wall, making a nice pattern.
I did like the summer exhibit where they had an artist paint a castle on the wall. I actually was walking the district that day and got to see the work in progress. There was also one that had all these funky pieces of criss-​crossing plywood layered on each other to make it look like the ceiling was falling. It created a little hovel where there was a makeshift bed; one of the components was a painter’s rack. Very cool.
ROY G BIV is a non-​profit, and I think they use a lot of student work from OSU and CCAD. So, they’re doing what they can with their resources. Sometimes they’re really on, and I really enjoy their shows. Other times I wish they’d step it up a bit. But the exhibits change regularly, I think one per month. It keeps the people happy, and it has to be a lot of work for a non-​profit to pull off. So, I must commend their efforts.

I cannot say that Roy G Biv is my favorite gallery in the Short North. It is, in fact, my least favorite gallery in the Short North. While I see the artists showcased there as legitimate in their field, the kinds of works shown are not my favorite as an artist myself.
Minimalist use of space, giant empty white walls with scraps of paper, a TV in a corner with some wild video art on screen. These are the kinds of things that you’ll most likely find at Roy G Biv. And while I applaud the artists and their endeavor, it’s just not my cup of tea.

I don’t really get art at all– I know I like something when I see it, but I’m not really critical about it all. It’s all a different language to me. I probably couldn’t tell you Impressionism from, uh, some other school of art– but with all that said, I usually like my stops in at Roy G Biv, whether it’s during Gallery Hop or not. Part of it might be my inner Paranoia geek getting a chuckle out of the color-​spectrum acronym, but mostly it’s just enjoying the art and the atmosphere here.
It’s easy to bitch about pretense and prices but even as a non-​artist, non-​artsy dude I’ve seen at least a few pieces at Roy G Biv I sort of wish I could afford. Sure, sometimes it’s just grids of color– the very lowest rung of art as far as I’m concerned– but sometimes it’s just plain visually appealing art, and it’s definitely within an artist’s and a gallery’s purview to charge whatever they please.
No trip to the Short North is complete without a trip to Roy, period!

I think Roy G Biv is great. It’s a non-​profit set up to expose local/​Ohio artists. You can get hung up on the price of the work, or you can question the validity of the work, but you can’t knock the purpose of the gallery. A lot of the work presented in Roy G Biv is presented by developing artists. In that sense, they are asking for some thoughtful feedback. You might not be wowed by a mad genius, but with a little curiosity you’re likely to walk away with a new perspective.

Every single gallery hop I park on 1^st and head south. Every single gallery hop I see all the great art and interesting folks down toward the cap. Every single gallery hop I head back towards my car and pass 1^st on the slim chance that Roy will have something good.
In the past 11 gallery hops (I missed one this year) Roy has had exactly 2 exhibits that didn’t make me think «Um, so this is ‘art’ huh? And you want $ 3,500 for that??»
I like to think I have unique taste and appreciate a wide variety… but I don’t appreciate pretense and expense when it is not warranted.

One of the better art galleries in the city. I’ve rarely been disappointed.