February 12 - March 15, 2026

Opening Reception: Saturday, February 14, 5 - 7 PM

Brooklyn, NY – 440 Gallery is pleased to present Reverence, a solo exhibition of abstract sculptures by Jon Bunge. The works unfold through form, shadow, and movement. Constructed from assembled tree branches, the sculptures cast intricate, shifting shadows across the walls. Suspended from the ceiling, they rotate dynamically with air currents, allowing form and shadow to change continuously, and transforming static materials into a living, time-based experience.

“Motion is central to Reverence. I am awed by the idea that movement is a fundamental force of the universe: atoms constantly moving, breath entering and leaving the body, hearts beating, waves breaking on distant shores, the earth rotating as it orbits the sun. Life is amazingly dynamic, and the movement in this show reflects that energy.”

Jon Bunge grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, in a neighborhood rich with trees. His mother and grandparents were devoted gardeners who instilled in him a lifelong love of plants and flowers. Jon earned a MFA from the City College of New York in 2015 after a previous career in social work, and also holds a Masters in Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in Manhattan. His work has been shown in many venues, including Established Gallery in Brooklyn, the Ground Floor Gallery in Brooklyn, the Arsenal Gallery in Central Park, the Bonsack Gallery in St. Louis, the Walls-Ortiz Gallery in Manhattan, the NU Hotel in Brooklyn, St. Joseph's College in Brooklyn, The Other Art Fair and the Affordable Art Fair. Jon has lived in Brooklyn for over 30 years and loves the extraordinary range of art he experiences in New York City.

In the Project Space:

“Blue”: Fred Bendheim, Karen Gibbons, Sophie Pickering

The color blue has many associations. It can signify sadness, harmony, or infinity. When we think of cool colors, blue is the chilliest. It is often correlated to the sky and the ocean, as in “wild blue yonder” or “deep blue sea.” In the Project Space, Fred Bendheim, Karen Gibbons, and Sophie Pickering present works that revolve around and derive meaning from this particular hue. Blue is the visual connector, even as the individual works vary in their explorations.

Fred Bendheim’s large, abstract pieces are part of a series that uses frames to create unconventional sculptures. The bent wooden forms are woven through each other to create interlocking and contrasting shapes: the angular is juxtaposed with the biomorphic. The contrast is emphasized through Bendheim’s color palette: warm yellows set against various and vibrant blues. In Blue Door, a shaped panel with vivid blues and a yellow spiral imparts a particularly hypnotic effect.

The collaged, mixed-media pieces by Karen Gibbons are an ongoing part of her practice, depicting the contradictory truths that encompass humanity's relationship with nature. For Gibbons, the color blue also holds contradictions—it can represent an ephemeral vastness or be perfectly encapsulated in a tiny forget-me-not. She states, “the beauty of nature can be seen as eternal or as a fleeting treasure in the hands of humanity.” Through her work, Gibbons seeks to understand the domination and destruction of which we are an integral part.

Sophie Pickering uses a wide array of materials in her practice: shells, sea glass, resin, plaster. Her handmade paper consists of a variety of fibers, including abaca, kozo, raw flax, and denim, which are also integrated into the framing. Whether investigating a domestic space or the expanse of an ocean beach, Pickering sees these spaces as containers for all the gruesome and lovely things in life. She explains, “I’m deeply interested in the interruption and integration of beauty and trauma in everyday life.”