February 9 - March 12, 2023

Opening Reception: Saturday, February 11, 4 -6:00 pm

440 Gallery is pleased to present I See You Falling Out of Love with Me, the inaugural solo exhibition by fiber artist Juliet Martin. Autobiographically driven, Martin addresses quirky and very personal issues of love and loss through a series of mixed-media works. Using materials and approaches that are not often associated together, Martin combines her love of hand-crafted fiber arts such as spinning and weaving, with traditional drawing and painting techniques. Tapestries, pillows and dolls are joined together to create vivid texturally-embellished forms that give Martin a way to tell a visual narrative.

Martin’s sculptural pieces are infused with universal themes of heartbreak. “These visual memoirs may not be totally factual, but they are always real to me,” says Martin. “Erratic, almost helpless, tumbling figures convey the unease and discomfort I had while experiencing my partner falling out of love with me. I chose to blend images of skulls with drawings of vulnerable bodies as a way to protect my heart from the harsh sadness of losing someone I cared for. Weaving, often thought of as a repetitive process rather than an emotional one, is the base that holds the work together.”

A keynote piece is Unraveled, an abstract tapestry constructed with allusions to a fantasy landscape or playground. Drawings of depressed-looking bodies (inkjet prints on fabric) cascade downward to reflect the duress of rocky relationships. Elsewhere, Martin’s hand-spun yarn is sewn into gestures that become an impassioned riptide. Images reminiscent of wheels are appliqued on to the surface and begin to echo figures falling through space—are we sensing the physical motion of a dying romance or something else?

Martin’s fascination with fiber as both a technique and a symbolic presence comes through in these pieces that are also slyly humorous. Martin’s materials are often woven out of anguish. Her painted pillows and dolls, while innocent upon first glance, reveal themselves to be as deceptive as unrequited love. It is when soft and sweet turns uncomfortable, such as when that childhood toy becomes scary, that is the very real nightmare for Martin.

Named by Artsy in 2022 as one of the “Women Artists to Watch,” Juliet Martin has been part of the weaving community for more than ten years. Her solo shows include Ivy Brown Gallery, New York City; Chashama, New York City; Garrison Art Center, Garrison, NY; and Saori Kaikan Gallery, Osaka, Japan. Her residencies include Arts Letters & Numbers and Mass MoCA. She has a BA in Visual Arts from Brown University and an MFA in Computer Arts from the School of Visual Arts. She lives and works in Brooklyn.

Project Space: Above and Beyond

The work of Gail Flanery, Joy Makon and Robin Roi in Above and Beyond gives the viewer each artist’s take on their outward and often upward view of the world. Whether depicting moods of a changing sky, a web of silhouetted tree branches, or a vision out the front door—these artists find inspiration by looking closely and then creating a way to see beyond the ordinary.

Gail Flanery uses printmaking techniques to produce unique works, drawn from her fascination with nature. Pine 1 and Across are monotypes, Breeze is a viscosity print, and Untitled (tree in landscape) is a mixed media work incorporating the chine collé process. Filtered through Flanery’s sense of place rather than direct observation, her experiments and explorations in printmaking make the work even more personal. “I love process and technique,” says Flanery.

“Always be looking,” says Joy Makon. Her series of twenty-four watercolors were created from frequently staring out the window of her studio. Every painting in “Really Small Skies” is less of a daydream and more of a daily diary; each one rarely took more than twenty minutes to complete and might have been the only thing she painted that day. Also being shown is Makon’s watercolor self portrait, No. 41. Here, the artist is obscured yet very present, as she views her reflection from the entryway to her cherished old house. Backlit by a vivid gradation of autumn colors, the artist confronts both everyday beauty and the reality of how challenging it is, at times, to just make it out the front door for the day.

Robin Roi’s acrylic paintings in her “Dawn to Dusk” series depict silhouettes of trees and structures against a monochromatic sky. Roi is influenced by dockside landscapes of the Maine town that her family has visited for generations. These paired-up paintings are a comparison on positive/negative color play, as Roi shows us two identical images with the figure and ground reversed. The dramatic palette shift emphasizes the silhouetted form, all while suggesting feelings about the passage of time. Tree branches against a sky are again featured in Roi’s piece Sylvan Sunset. Displayed in the manner of a traditional Japanese accordion-folded scroll, these watercolor and acrylic paintings entice the viewer to explore the colors and emotions of the everyday sunsets we are fortunate to experience.