Contemporary Gallery has been born with the exhibition, “Whimsy: Celebrating the Power of "Why Not?"” The temporary contemporary art gallery opens June 11 at 230 Harrison Street in Downtown Syracuse, thanks to the support of J.F. Real Estate. The opening reception is on Friday the 13th in conjunction with the opening of the Everson Biennial down the street. Designed as an afterparty for the Biennial, the reception will run on June 13th from 7 - 10 PM. The exhibition will continue through Friday, July 18 with plenty of special events to be announced on the gallery's website.

The art featured in “Whimsy: Celebrating the Power of "Why Not?"” includes art books, drawings, fabric art, film, illustration, installation art, intaglio prints, works in mixed media, paintings, photo etchings, photography, sculpture, and video art. The majority of artists represented come from the New York State area. The theme “whimsy” is inspired by its definition: 1. The quality of being quaint, odd, or playfully humorous, especially in an endearing way; 2. An idea that has no immediately obvious reason to exist. Since the gallery itself was created on a whim as a labor of love, it seemed appropriate for the theme of the exhibition to exemplify these characteristics. A series of film screenings will share the same theme with films curated by John Craddock, Assistant Director of the Syracuse International Film Festival.

Contemporary Gallery Co-Founders Roslyn Esperon and Courtney Rile met in February of 2006. Esperon was interning at Delavan Art Gallery when Rile was invited back to Syracuse from traveling by Bill Delavan to be the Gallery Coordinator. Over two years later, the two have continued to work together at the Gallery in various capacities and have also become friends. They both thank Bill Delavan for his guidance and support.

When it comes to the timing, Rile says, “It worked out well because Delavan Art Gallery is closed for the summer and Roslyn will be moving away in the fall. We had a perfect window.” Roslyn Esperon just graduated this May with a BA in Art History from Syracuse University, where she received wide recognition as a Coronat, Remembrance, and Syracuse University Scholar. Esperon will be attending New York University in the fall to earn a Masters degree in Arts Administration.

Courtney Rile is currently Marketing and PR Coordinator at Delavan Art Gallery as well as Director of Communications at the Cultural Resources Council. She is also a freelance writer, curator, photographer, video editor and video professor at ITT Technical Institute in Liverpool. Rile earned a BFA in Video Art from SU in 2004 and went on to coordinate the “Greenberg In Syracuse: Then & Now” 2005 exhibition at ThINC's Company Gallery and curate video art at Ohm Lounge in Downtown Syracuse before traveling.

Contemporary Gallery will be open for regular business hours on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 11 AM - 7 PM with film screenings every Wednesday at 7 PM. There is an ambitious schedule of special events, including film screenings, a book launch, official Th3 afterparties in June and July as well as a healthy variety of surprises along the way. For a list of artists, more information about the gallery and to see an up-to-date list of events, visit the gallery online at http://contemporarygallery.wordpress.com.