IMINIMI (MEN MAKING ART); EXHIBITION OF WORK BY IMINIMI WILL OPEN TODAY AT GALLERY 100

Group shows by women artists are almost common, but male artists binding together to show their art qualifies as unusual.

"Men are not really accustomed to sharing ideas," says Bug, one of the four men in the Denver area artist group known as Iminimi. "That's one of the strengths of the group show, sharing the mental state we're going through."

An exhibition of work by Iminimi will open today at Gallery 100 in downtown Cape Girardeau. The four artists will be present for a reception from 5-8 p.m. today. The exhibit consisting of free-standing sculptural works, relief sculptures and paintings will continue through May 26.

Iminimi is a palindrome derived from the masculine plural form of two Italian words that translate to "the leasts." "Minimi" was the name given a 15th century religious order whose members were beggars. The order was patterned after St. Francis of Assisi's Friars Minor.

Common ground

The four are all members of the Core New Art Space, a gallery in Denver. That is how they got together in 1998. " After the monthly meetings, we would be last ones there talking about art," said Bug in a phone interview from Denver. "There seemed a kind of natural bond."

The function of Iminimi isn't solely to hold exhibitions. The artists also have created a collaborative poem. They meet twice a month to talk about art and critique each other's work.

"There's a lot of common ground for the four of us," says Bug.

Their first joint show was in 1999 at the Dairy Art Center a converted dairy that presents visual and performing art and theater in Boulder, Colo.

"After that it kind of spread like wildfire," Bug said.

When he isn't creating art, Bug is a middle school math teacher. The other members of Iminimi -- sculptor Kent Smith and multi-media artists Roger Rapp and Rick Visser -- also have day jobs.

One advantage of a group show is that art centers don't have match individual artists together into a show that makes sense. These artists already have their commonality, which is to encourage their own diversity.

"We constantly challenge each other," said Bug. "We talk about show and it inspires us and morphs into other things."

Bug uses metal and found objects in his own work. Rapp is inspired by genetic patterns. Smith's bronze sculptures capture the human form. The interplay between beauty and oppression is expressed in Visser's work.

Being a math teacher and artist go hand in hand, Bug says. "I think all of us are really drawing on math, science, philosophy and religion."

There is no religious subtext to Iminimi, he says, but he does believe in what St. Francis' order was striving for. "Strip away what is false and not authentic," he said. "That is a strong vein for Iminimi as a whole."