440 Gallery Presents: Ellen Chuse

Fertile Ground

Ellen Chuse exhibits a colorful array of new works on paper at the 440 Gallery in Brooklyn from January 14th to February 21st 2010. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, January 14th from 6 to 9pm. The artist will host another reception on Sunday, January 17th from 3 to 6pm.

Chuse's paintings and drawings explore landscape and the body in deeply personal ways. She examines organic forms in nature and moves between representation and abstraction. Fertile Ground continues this process with images that emerge from her connection to the ocean and the spirit that inhabits it. “The ocean is the mother of us all,” says Chuse. “Life begins in water. There are deep mysteries within.”

This exhibition represents a body of work created this year. The artist combines graphite and acrylic or oil on paper. The works vary in size: some are small oils on treated paper while the acrylics are larger. Some paintings have little indication of the graphite while others emphasize the drawing with both line and brush stroke. Working intuitively, the artist builds both the form and the color over time, sometimes rubbing, scraping and even sanding the surface to create a layered texture and depth of color. Having worked for years in black and white, Chuse has plunged into color with an intensity that she often finds startling. “Color has such deep emotional content which an artist must respect even as she balances formal considerations,” says Chuse. These strong, colorful and evocative paintings certainly demonstrate this balance.

The Small Works Show
December 3, 2009—January 10, 2010
Group Show
This annual juried exhibition features the work of artists from all over the country, but with the majority of the participants from Brooklyn. All work is 12 inches or smaller and of a great variety of media and styles, including painting, photography, sculpture, collage and mixed media. The juror this year was Charles Long, internationally exhibited artist with work included in the Whitney Biennial, New York's Museum of Modern Art, MCA Chicago, Museo de Arte Moderno Mexico City, Mori Art Museum Tokyo, the Hirshorn in Washington and more. Long is represented in New York by Tanya Bonakdar Gallery. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, two NEA Grants, two Pollock-Krasner Grants and a Louis Comfort Tiffany grant. Long has taught at the California Institute of the Arts, Art Center College of Art and Design and Otis College of Art and Design and Harvard University.

"No Parking Funeral Today"
October 22—November 29, 2009
Daniel Weiner
In this installation, Mr. Weiner aspires to work in the tradition of Wallace Berman, George Herms and Ray Johnson, making intimately scaled, highly personal assemblage and collage. In his 5^th body of work since 2003, Weiner continues to seek out texts and objects with problematic correspondence to their intended context. He reads a college writing handbook as poetry, electrical diagrams as symbols of bad relationships and the nightstand becomes symbolic geography. The telephone is given especially dire significance because of its purported role in connecting people. The flexibility of contexts and outmoded methods of communication both reflect badly on the endeavor of self-expression. Weiner hopes to show that the act of communicating belies its purpose and is marked with the tragic solemnity of essential isolation. And this is the good news. The artist sees this condition as an ethical testing ground. He attempts to respond to the question of what can and should be said.

"Painting and Printmaking"
September 10—October 18, 2009
Daniel McDonald
Based on an underlying grid pattern that contains expressive gesture and exuberant color, the work is notable for a sophisticated color palette, evidence of McDonald's more than 20 years as an instructor of color theory at Parsons School of Design and a Professor at Kingsborough Community College.  His latest works are multi-paneled paintings on raw linen using a mixed media of oil, acrylic and pastel.

The "Brooklyn" Show
June 25-July 25, 2009
Group Show
Trevor Brown.Nan CareyCat, CelebrezzeAnn Cofta, Adrian Coleman, Ron Diamond, Richard Eagan, Shanee Epstein, Todd Erickson, Terence Finley, Karen Gibbons, Risa Glickman, Susan Greenstein, Hazel Hankin, Ellen Kahn, Evelyn Lampert, Marion Lerner-Levine, Richard Lubell. Philomena Marano, Ruth Marchese, Tod Mason. Joanne McFarland, Kathleen Migliore-Newton, Lenore Fiore Mills, Jules A. A. Peemoeller, William Sayler, Francis Sills, Christine Staehelin, Matthew Veiderman, Ella Yang
The work in the show includes a broad range of styles and techniques including painting,drawing, photography, prints, mixed and new media that depict the borough of Brooklyn, NY.

REMARKS
May 14-June 21, 2009
Shanee Epstein
"Re-Marks" is a series of paintings and collage that combine earlier marks, juxtaposed with new painting. This new body of work indicates a return to collage for Epstein after four years of immersion in color exploration. Becoming conscious of the amount of the materials Epstein was using led her to reclaim and recover older work. This palette of mixed paint and earlier images creates a dialogue within the pieces between new and old marks. Epstein says "These newer pieces chronicle the passage of time through the history of my mark making. These works, in effect, become my visual autobiography."

HEX
April 2 - May 10, 2009
Nancy Lunsford
“HEX” refers to the hexagon, a recurring shape in the work, and also suggests hex as a spell or a curse. The work is dominated by the geometry of traditional Appalachian quilt patterns: one large canvas is a honey colored maze of hexagons and some wall-mounted sculptures are constructed in the traditional "contained crazy" pattern.  There are also drawings that represent the hexadecimal base 16 numeral system (hex) used in computer engineering, the artist's nod toward the blessing and curse of the digital revolution. Noting the universal recurrence of geometric patterns in nature, folk art and even the pixilation of contemporary image making, the artist states  "It is not so much the content but the shape and patterns themselves that have the power to mesmerize."

Alice Revisited
Feb. 19 - March 29, 2009
Ellen Kahn
Kahn’s paintings and works on paper focus on the psychological struggle that is involved with trying to break free from childhood and move out into the world to discover one’s own identity. As in the famous Sisyphus myth, where Sisyphus keeps trying again and again to push a heavy boulder up a hill only to be pushed back continually by its weight, Alice tries to journey forward and explore wonderland only to continually be pushed back again and again by all of the strange and unexpected barriers that try to stop her. The text in these works references two specific passages from the Carroll books: one from Through the Looking-Glass, in the chapter called “The Garden of Live Flowers,” where no matter which path Alice chooses it always twists back to her house, and the other from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, right at the beginning where Alice falls down the rabbit hole only to discover that she cannot get through the little doors into the garden beyond.

Obscurred Offereings
Jan. 8 - Feb. 15, 2009
Richard Eagan
Eagan presents two strains of his characteristic constructed paintings, picking up themes from early work and bringing them forward. Two fairly large works are presented, each with a series of smaller “satellite” pieces that expand on the themes of the larger.
In one series, Mr. Eagan’s familiar “bursting” elements are brought into play in pieces suggestive of the critical decline of the artist’s beloved amusement beach at Coney Island.
In the second series, variations on the “target” theme are worked in an introspective, mysterious way, recalling the last days of the live-ammunition shooting galleries on the streets of Coney.

"Luz/Oscuridad" ("Light/Darkness")
Nov. 28 - Jan 4, 2009
Tom Vega
Duality informs the work of painter Tom Vega in his show “Luz/Oscuridad.”  These abstract works are expressions of light and shadow, joy and sorrow, luminosity and opacity, delicacy and assertion.  Contradictory and complimentary opposites are twinned in this intense colorist’s palette.

Veni, Vidi, Sgraffiti
Oct. 16 - Nov. 23, 2008
Helene Mukhtar
"Veni, Vidi, Sgraffiti", Helene Mukhtar's new series of mixed media paintings are based on photographs of graffiti and mural paintings she took in New York, Paris and Berlin.

In The Pink
Sept. 4 - Oct. 12, 2008
Karen Gibbons
"In The Pink" fills the gallery with bright color and vivid texture.  Curious found objects become armatures for fanciful, painterly sculpture. Generous drawings blend boldness of form with delicacy of line and gesture. This abstract work is essentially organic in nature with a primitive sensibility.  The work explores the tension between strength and frailty, confidence and cowardice, reverence and playfulness, divergence and union. Karen Gibbons weaves a fractured story of humanity in all its ragged glory. The result is a show with lively humor and imaginative power.

4th Annual Small Works Show
June 26 - July 27, 2008
Group Show
440 Gallery is pleased to announce its Fourth Annual Small Works Show. This unique exhibit features a diverse group of artists, many from the local Brooklyn community.  This years’ juror is David Humphrey, a well known and respected New York artist and curator, represented by Sikkema Jenkins & Co. in New York City.

Southern Breeze
May 15 - June 22, 2008
Amy Williams
On a recent trip to Savannah, I fell in love with the Spanish moss found everywhere.  It was romantic, gothic and dreamy.  My camera lens was perpetually pointed up looking for a new composition to be discovered within the trees, leaves and moss configurations. The title of the show, Southern Breeze, refers to the atmosphere created in the gallery. Standing before these images one can almost breathe the sultry Southern air.

Recent Works on Paper
January 10 - February 16, 2008
Paintings by Ellen Chuse
This exhibition represents a body of work from 2007 combining graphite and acrylic on paper.  Varying in size - some quite small and others large - some paintings have little indication of the graphite while others emphasize the drawing both with line and brush stroke.

Coney Island:  The Lost Horizon
November 29, 2007 - January 6, 2008
Color street photography by Lara Wechsler
 Wechsler's color images of present day scenes from Brooklyn's fading fantasy emporiums were shot during the past summer and document the diversity of its laid back populace.

New Sculpture
October 18, 2007 - November 25, 2007
New scupture by Jolie Guy
The seemingly ephemeral quality of Jolie Guy’s sculpture is, paradoxically, what makes it timeless. Her soft sculptures are gracefully arranged constructions of meticulously handcut lines of paper each creating different kinds of gray.  There is a quiet, meditative sense and an echo of the ancient human propensity to gather and collect in discriminating groups; one is reminded of Monet’s haystacks and the seasonal process of harvesting.  The subdued palette, however  and the medium of paper suggests most vividly a graphic context: they are sketches in the third dimension, scupltural exercises in color and temperature. The work ranges in size from about 3 feet by 4 feet square, to smaller groups of 4 to 12 inches square.

Undercurrents
September 6 - October 14, 2007
A solo exhibition of sculpture by Martha Walker.
The exhibition focuses on pieces created in the past two years.  Some of the sculptres are significantly larger scale than previous works, and there is a simplicitly that allows the viewer to appreciate the visual messages with greater clarity.  Walker says, "I see my sculptures as a community, or family.  They work well together or on their own.  They are pieces of me, a place in time, and also, an expression of my deepest emotions and what is most important to me."  Although Walker sees nature and feminism as being predominant themes in her work, the diversity of texture, dimension, and form on display in Undercurrents takes the audience on a journey that is constantly surprising.

 Third Annual Small Works Show
June 28 - July 29, 2007
440 Gallery hosts their Third Annual Small Works Show. Included artists:   Alyce Barr, Amanda Webster, Anujan Ezhikode, Barbara Sullivan, Bernard Klevickas, Bill Fink, Caterina Schemidt, Charles Basman, Chris Mateer, Dalton Rooney, Dawn Petrlik, Edina S., Emily Berger, Gerard Barbot, harriot marion, Hope Dector, Iza Szczepinska, Jamin An, Janine Nichols, Jason Orrel, Jenniver Bevill, Jessica Cohen, Jim Boden,Jodi Shenn, Joseph Barral, Judith Hooper, Mary Bullock, Kathryn Roake, Kimberly Simpson, Laurie Sheridan, Matt Lapiska, Laurie Lee- Geogescu, Merrie Koehlert, Michael J Berkowitz, Michael Pride, Molly Nadler, Paige Roberts, Patrick Barrett, Phillomena Marano, Rowena Dale Mohammed, Sara Lovas, Susan Handwerker, Tanya Taylor, Venessa Pineda, Victoria Lapin, Virginia Naughton, Shanee Epstein, Richard Eagan, Lara Wechsler, Todd Erickson, Nancy Lunsford, Ellen Chuse, Tom Vega, Jolie Guy, Amy Williams, Martha Walker

Polyphony
May 17 - June 24, 2007
A solo exhibition of Shanee Epstein's new paintings.  An abstract exploration of color works on paper breaking up compositional planes with intersecting blocks of texture and color.  The paintings use varnishes to create a more layered surface while struggling for a deeper connection to the power of color and its harmonic and dissonand interaction.  These paintings explore a wide variety of palettes that are affected strongly by outside seasons and the artist's inner moods.

(Painting by Shanee Epstein)

The Muse
April 5 - May 15, 2007
Photography by Amy Williams', a continually evolving series of photographs or her eight year old niece, Allison.This series offers the viewer not only the opportunity to reexamine, and reimagine the narrative of childhood, but a rare glimpse into moments, selves on the brink of being lost.  It is that crystalization of the ephemeral that draws, and holds the eye of the camera, and the viewer. (Photo by Amy Williams)

Inside Out
New Constructed Paintings by Richard Eagan
February 22 - April 1, 2007
Opening Reception:  Thursday, Febuary 22, 6 - 9 pm

Inside Out presents further investigation of themes seen in Eagen's 2006 show Bursting Out. Wood, steel, reclaimed building material and objects combine in a refusal to be contained.

(Oceanic Baths: constructed painting by Richard Eagan)

Process
Gallery Members Group Show
January 11 - February 18, 2007
Reception:  Saturday, February 10, 7 - 10 pm

What happens when you put eleven artists in an empty gallery and tell them to make art on site for a month while the world watches?  This month's show, Process at the artist-run 440 Gallery in Park Slope, Brooklyn is part performance, part demonstration, reflecting not only artwork, but the growth and evolution of true community.

Pieces
new work by NANCY LUNSFORD
Nov. 30, 2006 - Jan. 7, 2007
Opening Reception: Thursday, Nov. 30, 6-9 pm
Nancy Lunsford’s current work reflects a return to her Appalachian roots.  Inspired by the patterned and embroidered quilts of her grandmothers, she creates collages and paintings based on traditional quilt patterns but using pages from her sketchbooks, found objects and ephemera. The work is playful, political and personal.

(Tumbling Blocks, Detail, mixed media collage, Nancy Lunsford 2006)

Riffs on Color
Solo Exhibition of Paintings by Tom Vega
Thursday, October 19 through November 26
Opening Reception is on Thursday, October 19^th from 6-8 PM.
Tom Vega’s vibrant acrylic paintings on canvas invoke the spirited riffs of a virtuoso jazz composition. This series of Vega’s signature expressions of sweeping color and emotional brushwork takes jazz as its inspiration. The works, in single-panel, diptych and triptych formats, are lush anthems with an improvisational energy. Vega, academically trained, is at heart a colorist. His body of work expresses both physical and emotional experience with concurrent sensations, earthy and delicate, rude and elegiac, quiet and strident.
(Rabla En Velo, Veiled Rage 12x9 Acrylic on Canvas 2006, Tom Vega)

Tidal Channels
Photos, drawings, and sculptures by Todd Erickson
Thursday September 7^th through Friday October 14th, 2006
Opening Reception Thursday, September 14th from 6-9 p.m.
Environmental Sculptor, Todd Erickson will present his latest installation and photo documentation depicting the Sunken Forest on Fire Island, NY. The exhibition, Tidal Channels. The audience is invited into the carefully constructed world that Mr. Erickson created after careful observation and study of the Islands topography and plant systems in the Sunken Forest.

(up)State of Mind
exhibition of new works by Amy Williams
Friday, March 3 through March 26
Opening reception is on Friday, March 3 from 6-8 PM.
The photography of Amy Williams is at once personal and objective. Her images range from interiors to natural outdoor settings and intimate portraiture, but there is always a consistent quality. Using only available light, the images, regardless of content, evoke emotion--sometimes awe or trepidation. Amy inspires curiosity in viewers, so that they choose to explore and engage in her images.

PAIRINGS: Experiments in Sculptography
exhibition of new works by South African born artist, Jeff Jaffe
Thursday, February 2 through Friday, February 24
Opening reception is on Thursday, February 2 from 6-9 PM.Sculptor Jeff Jaffe goes under the surface. And, although the surfaces he presents are enigmatic, beautiful and challenging, he aims deeper. In the exhibition of his recent works, PAIRINGS: Experiments in Sculptography, he presents a surface duality: gritty, concise welded-steel mask like heads are each hung paired with a photo. In the architectural long shots, the photos present a 'mask' of their own--the cityscapes.