April 23 - May 24, 2026

OPENING RECEPTION: April 25, 4:00 - 6:00 PM ● ARTIST TALK: May 10, 4:40 PM

440 Gallery is pleased to present Meet Me Underwater, a solo exhibition of photographs and mixed-media images by Leigh Blanchard. Diagnosed as Autistic in 2024, Blanchard created this work in response to her diagnostic journey, combining photography and fiber elements to evoke both comfort and unease. While the abstract compositions initially appear gentle and romantic, closer inspection reveals tension beneath the surface. Meet Me Underwater marks Blanchard’s fifth solo exhibition at 440 Gallery.

Blanchard says, “It’s been a strange time to receive my autism diagnosis. After taking time to process, I found an Autistic community where I felt understood, only to see autism suddenly flooded with misinformation in the news. The experience has been disorienting—feeling liberated as I reinterpret myself and my past, while also facing fear and misunderstanding.”

Leigh Blanchard is an Autistic, Brooklyn-based artist working in photography and mixed media. Her work explores the mechanics of perception while incorporating image-making processes that are not traditionally considered photographic, including collage, scanography, and sewing. The abstract images that result from her process-based technique encourage viewers to rethink their preconceived notions of what a photograph can look like.

Blanchard was born in Chicago, Illinois, and received her BFA in Photography from Parsons The New School for Design in New York. Her work has been featured in exhibitions and collections across New York City, Chicago, and Berlin. In early 2026, Blanchard’s work was acquired and installed in the newly renovated Centurion Lounge at JFK Airport.

In the Project Space:

“Drawing the Line”: Acey, Orrok, Pedersen

Line plays an important role for Jo-Ann Acey, Catherine Orrok, and Janet Pedersen. We tend to correlate line with drawing, but as painters, lines function in many ways. They can be used to define the boundaries of a form; indicate motion or direct attention; emphasize gesture and emotion; and create texture. If we look at these paintings through the lens of this basic means of artistic expression, we gain insight into the artist’s intentions.

Jo-Ann Acey finds endless inspiration—and a starting point—in landscape, whether urban, rural, or imagined. She uses a variety of media and techniques in these works on paper as she explores this terrain through color, line, pattern, and texture. Acey’s use of line is notable and calls to mind Paul Klee’s famous remark: “A line is a dot that went for a walk.” The viewer is invited to take their own journey through these abstracted landscapes.

Catherine Orrok uses color and the flat planes of geometric shapes to explore the possibilities of two-dimensional space. She begins with the grid as a basic structure, which is upended and softened through the process of painting. Line functions ambiguously in her work. It can be an outline or something that directs the eye around the painting. At other times, it is unclear whether we’re looking at a line or a very thin shape. Does a line have to be made in one continuous stroke, or is it a line by virtue of its relative width?

2nd Street Landscapes has been an ongoing project for Janet Pedersen for the last ten years. She begins by searching Google Maps street view: Pedersen can pull up any street in the U.S. and take a virtual road trip. The result is a series of paintings all based on “2nd Streets" throughout America. Lines become conceptual through her technique of blind contour drawing and her method of selecting her subject.