NASHVILLE, TN.- On view in the Frist Center galleries from June 17 through September 25, 2005, The Fragile Species: New Art Nashville includes paintings, sculptures, photographs, prints and video art that have been created by artists in the Nashville area. Although they work in very different idioms, these artists are united by their interest in conveying central aspects of experience that, while deeply personal, are global in their relevance.

For Michelle Anderson, Kristina Arnold, Patrick DeGuira, Carol Mode and Jack Dingo Ryan, the focus is on illness (often their own) and the effects of aging. Kathryn Dettwiller, Erin Hewgley, Andrew Kaufman, Lesley Patterson and Chris Scarborough create or respond to images of danger or trauma. The subject of loss and absence, as implied by discarded or reconfigured artifacts and materials, is explored in works by Michael Baggarly, Victor Simmons, Tom Thayer and Barbara Yontz. Kristi Hargrove and Julie Roberts turn their gazes inward, in Hargrove's case by a close scrutiny of her mother's reality as a harbinger of her own, and in Roberts's exploring psychological dualities within the self. Finally, Emily Holt, Mark Hosford, Adrienne Outlaw, Billy Renkl and Lain York employ a wry language of metaphor—often linking human life with other, more short-lived forms—to express the ephemeral nature of existence.

The works in the exhibition were selected by Frist Center curator Mark Scala, who notes that “although they are quite moving, these intensely human themes are not conveyed with sentimentality or pathos. Instead, they contain observations about the human condition with a beauty and emotional substance that I feel reaches a very deep level.”

With its focus on artists’ experiences of life, health, and ultimately the resilience of humanity, The Fragile Species enables the Frist Center to help visitors “connect with art” by relating it to their own experiences of these universal concerns.