{"id":611926,"date":"2026-09-26T01:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T01:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/611926\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T01:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T01:14:11","slug":"rockford-painter-and-video-game-creative-to-open-solo-exhibit-at-kortman-gallery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/611926\/","title":{"rendered":"Rockford painter and video game creative to open solo exhibit at Kortman Gallery"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Artist Eric Nofsinger\u2019s solo exhibition \u201cSome of My Bruises Have Names\u201d will debut Friday, Oct. 2, 2026, at Kortman Gallery in downtown Rockford. (Photos provided by Kortman Gallery)
\nBy Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD \u2014 A Rockford artist who spent years making video games with some of the industry\u2019s largest publishers is launching a new solo art exhibit in conjunction with Fall ArtScene.<\/p>\n

Eric Nofsinger\u2019s exhibition \u201cSome of My Bruises Have Names\u201d opens Friday, Oct. 2 at Kortman Gallery, 107 N. Main St., in downtown. It features his acrylic painting and mixed-media work on canvas centered largely on eerie, mythical figures.<\/p>\n

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\u201cA bruise is proof of contact. It\u2019s also a slow thing \u2014 a patch of skin cycling through its colors while it decides whether or not to become a story,\u201d Nofsinger said in a news release.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s close to how my paintings are made. Thin washes of acrylic go down one over another, violet under green under a yellow that only shows up where the layers thin out, and the figure surfaces somewhere in the middle of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nofsinger has long been a painter, but his career in the video game industry took his attention away from the craft for years.<\/p>\n

He was hired in 1994 as the first artist for a small video game studio called High Voltage Software<\/a>, which later worked on games such as \u201cThe Conduit,\u201d \u201cSaints Row IV,\u201d and multiple seasons of \u201cFortnite.\u201d He eventually became co-owner and chief creative officer of a 185-person operation at High Voltage, which was acquired by Keywords Studios in late 2020. He\u2019s been involved in video games for more than three decades.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe paintings are the other half of that life, picked back up,\u201d Nofsinger said. \u201cThey are made by one pair of hands for one viewer at a time, layered washes and bruise-colored surfaces where dream figures surface slowly rather than arriving all at once. The subjects come from the eerie, the half-playful, and the mythic: the figure that turns up in the hallway at four in the morning and refuses to explain itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

An opening reception will happen in conjunction with Fall ArtScene from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2 and Saturday, Oct. 3 at the downtown gallery. Admission is free<\/p>\n

J.R. Kortman Center for Design and Kortman Gallery are open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.<\/p>\n

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For more information visit jrkortman.com<\/a> or call 815-968-0123.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cPeople Took Them for Twins\u201d by Eric Nofsinger. (Image provided by Kortman Gallery)<\/p>\n

This article is by\u00a0Kevin Haas<\/a>. Email him at\u00a0khaas@rockrivercurrent.com<\/a>\u00a0or follow him on\u00a0Instagram\u00a0@thekevinhaas<\/a>\u00a0and Threads\u00a0@thekevinhaas<\/a><\/p>\n

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