Gail Flannery: "Perennial"
June 2 - July 3, 2022
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 4, 4:00 - 7:00
440 Gallery is proud to present Perennial, an exhibition of prints and drawings by Brooklyn artist Gail Flanery. For her sixth solo show at the gallery, Flanery has assembled a collection of work that explores facets of nature in both a figurative and abstract way. Traditional renderings of recognizable flowers and trees are combined with idealized notions of nature observed, all influenced by Flanery’s love and concern for the natural world and the effects of climate change.
Nature is a muse to Flanery, as seen through her monotypes, monoprints, drawings and collages. Most days, one will find Flanery walking in nearby Prospect Park, often with a sketchbook in hand to make note of distinctive branching shapes and lines that she sees within the trees. Numerous sketches become reference points for her studio work that is a direct and simple path to the many forms she has found. Even more so during this period of pandemic introspection, Gail has been discovering new compositions and movement within the trees in the park.
For Perennial, Flanery will be creating a large, original drawing on one of the gallery’s main walls. Inspiration for this drawing comes from a 2021 trip to Mérida, Mexico, where she encountered many examples of street art. Says Gail, “Everywhere I walked, I was taken aback by the exquisite artwork that I came across on some of the most ordinary, commonplace walls in the town. Not only were the actual trees unique and fascinating, but the drawings and paintings that local artists created on the surfaces stuck in my mind. I hope to recreate the energy and beauty that I found in Mérida on the wall at 440 Gallery.”
Gail Flanery graduated with a BFA from The Cooper Union in 1972. As a printmaker known for color-based landscape abstractions, Flanery has established professional relationships with master printmakers across the U.S. and her work has been exhibited and collected widely. She has shown extensively across the U.S. including Established Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Krasdale Art Galleries in White Plains, NY; Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY; The Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY and The Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ.
For more information contact the director, Amanda Brown, at 718-499-3844 or info@440gallery.com.
Project Space:
”True to Form”
True to Form, a group show of paintings by Richard Barnet, Fred Bendheim and Ellen Chuse is an homage to each artist’s background as a sculptor and what happens in two-dimensions when structure, depth and ultimately form are put first. The exhibition engages in the search of a harmonic meeting point between subtly complex fields of color, broad geometric patterns and deep, expressive forms.
Richard Barnet has selected several watercolors on paper for this show, with content that emerges from his extensive background as a sculptor. “For me, a difference between working in three-dimensions vs working on a two-dimensional surface, is that I can build a sculpture without deciding on its color(s) until late in its origination, but with two-dimensional work I have to deal with colors earlier. What lighting and shadows can bring out in a sculpture, must be accomplished by varieties of shapes, colors, and illusions in work that is physically flat. When I am working in any medium, 2D or 3D, it is important to have, early on, a fairly well-formed idea as to what the piece will be—that is, to know its design.”
Fred Bendheim’s work spans the boundaries between painting and sculpture, through personal expression and site-specific public art. His art is about the feelings and intuitions transmitted to viewers when they view the work. For True to Form, Bendheim has selected a group of his shaped paintings that are crafted from cut and painted PVC board. Freed from the rectilinear constraints of conventional canvas, Bendheim’s pieces maintain a feeling of space within a two-dimensional sculpture based on process and experimentation. Each piece’s silhouette is enlivened by meticulously designed interior shapes. The colorful geometric forms and lines fit together like a perfect puzzle, vibrantly visual without any bends or breaks. The viewer may be inclined to ask “how’d he do that?”
New acrylic on paper paintings are the beginning of an exploration for Ellen Chuse. While continuing her focus on archetypal forms and deeply saturated color, she is moving in several directions at once. Chuse is not sure where these paths will take her but she enjoys the opportunity to explore and experiment. In some paintings the mediative quality of recent work has given over to a slight emotional disequilibrium that reflects the times in which we are living. Interestingly, she now see similarities in form with some of her sculpture of the 1970s and the realization that, even in her paintings, form comes first.
About 440 Gallery: 440 Gallery presents engaging art to the community through exhibitions, talks, readings and events centered around direct contact with the artist. Open Thursday, Friday 4-7pm, Saturday, Sunday 11-7pm, or by appointment.