Susan Greenstein: "To Every Season"
October 12 - November 19, 2023
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 14, 5 - 7 pm
Artist Talk on Zoom: Sunday, October 29, 4:40 pm
Register for Artist Talk
BROOKLYN, NY – 440 Gallery is pleased to present “To Every Season,” a solo show of lush watercolors by Susan Greenstein. Painted en plein air, her pieces explore her multi-sensory reactions to the constant changing of trees throughout the seasons. This is Greenstein’s seventh solo show at the gallery.
Greenstein’s work focuses on the natural gesturing and frequent surprises she finds within the trees that serve as her models. Within this series of small paintings, Greenstein takes you through her experience of a year, focusing on transformation of shape and form. Using the fluidity and transparency of watercolor, she portrays depth through energetic brushstrokes, areas of brilliant color offset by neutral tones, and a just-enough amount of detail. Her free but deliberate touches create a system of unique moments that tell the story of seasons. The result is a sensitive documentation of the natural world.
Greenstein’s watercolors are a slight departure from her interest in the relationship between nature and man-made structures. She began this yearlong project last fall after examining the work of Arthur Kvarnstrom and his Haiku in Paint series. Kyarnstrom’s work involved distilling his trees into forms of minimal brushstrokes. The early pieces in Greenstein’s collection convey Kvarnstrom motifs. As the project evolved, Haiku in Paint became a doorway for Greenstein, not a way out but the entry to her own voice.
In Autumnal Glow, her composition is pared down into economy of strokes. Greenstein asks, “What can you let go of?” The figurative tree reaches upward beyond the top of the picture plane. Delicately dividing the composition, the branches form a tension between the tree and the glowing foliage behind it. Greenstein does not replicate the colors; instead she interprets them. Leaves whisper the last moments of summer green and hint at the beginnings of autumn orange.
Greenstein says, "One of the most enjoyable aspects of this tree series is that it is just about a moment and my relationship with that specific tree at that time. Just as the season effects change in each tree, I so enjoy seeing the smaller changes that occur day to day and week to week.”
Susan Greenstein is a graduate of Pratt Institute and Queens College and has attended programs at MassArt New England, Bennington College and Maine College of Art. Her work can be found in private collections across the U.S., and she has exhibited extensively in New York City, New Hampshire and the Delaware Art Museum. She is a member-artist of 440 Gallery and directs the Young Artist program at the gallery. As an art educator, she has influenced and mentored many young artists at the Brooklyn Friends School and Studio and currently teaches art classes to adults and children at the Art Annex. Greenstein lives and works in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn.
IN THE PROJECT SPACE: “Eclectic Visions”
Jo-Ann Acey • Karen Gibbons • Juliet Martin
This show exhibits the work of Jo-Ann Acey, Karen Gibbons, and Juliet Martin and presents us with individual expressions of each artist's vision. Contrast is often informative in comprehending how inspiration is manifested in a work of art, and these pieces have a truly distinctive physical presence. Each artist began with a desire to express something of the world that they occupy, be it internal or external. Eclectic Visions presents us with an opportunity to examine the possibilities open to us for expression as well as understanding.
Jo-Ann Acey renders her perceptions of time by examining light in her work. Executed in pastel, charcoal and graphite on paper these drawings take us on a journey as the environment shifts from the brightness of daylight to the unlit corners as night descends. Though completely abstract the atmospherics of these works are grounded in her experience of moving through the day. Acey states, "I am inspired by the changing landscape at any given hour. What we see can be altered by any natural phenomenon or point of view."
Collage for Karen Gibbons is the basis for her eclectic approach to building this work. It is an accumulation of references connected to personal history, the natural world, and human nature that come from a diverse range of sources. Gibbons' mixed media collages execute this vision through various mediums, such as acrylic, oil and chalk pastel, skillfully applied on board. Animal and human related imagery run through the work and create a subtle alchemy hinting at transformative processes. Ultimately, Gibbons' work is an optimistic vision of the potential for human nature to effect the earth positively.
Juliet Martin creates composite works of hand spun yarn, hand woven and machine made fabric, ink jet prints of original illustrations, glitter, acrylic paint, and text. Her love of her materials is especially evident in her treatment of fiber as well as her meticulous process that manifests a vision that could only be hers. This series, titled Anxiety is a Love I Cannot Breakup With is extremely personal and autobiographically driven, both fraught with emotion as well as humor. Martin dares us to examine her vulnerabilities and discomforts up close, and perhaps examine some of our own.