May 29 - June 29

Opening Reception: Saturday, May 31, 4-6pm

Artist Talk: Sunday, June 15, 4:40pm

440 Gallery is proud to present True to Form, a solo exhibition of abstract paintings and sculpture by Ellen Chuse. This show juxtaposes Chuse’s clay sculptures from the 1970s and her recent acrylic paintings on paper. Her current work features bold, archetypal shapes set against richly saturated backgrounds, with recurring motifs of totems and portals that echo her early sculpture. Now, Chuse connects decades of her creative practice. True to Form marks Chuse’s ninth solo exhibition at 440 Gallery.

Chuse was originally a sculptor, but the birth of her first child made the demands of working in clayimpractical. A focus on drawing, first in charcoal and chalk, led to pastels and eventually to paint in saturated colors. In contrast, the clay sculptures featured in this exhibition, work of up to four decades past, are more modest in scale than her paintings and remain unglazed, rendered in a range of deep earth tones.

Chuse’s color palette has evolved to include soft pinks, purples, and blues, yet the forms retain intense darkness, layering greens and blues for a dense foundation. Her deceptively simple compositions, glorified by bold symbolic shapes, reward careful observation. Are they meditative or disorienting? Reassuring or ominous?

Her paintings and sculptural totems blur the boundary between painting and sculpture, the shared intention conflating disciplines often separated by dimension. Shapes echo across surfaces and structures as if recalling one another. Weight and lift, balance and burden, thread through both canvas and totem. Whether stacked or layered, each piece leans into the next. Are they holding themselves up, or being held down?

"While there are never any guarantees in life, as I approach 80 time becomes very finite. I wanted to seize this opportunity to show the older sculpturetogether with my related paintings. In my most recent paintings I struggle for balance — both literal and figurative. The workmoves between meditative color and form and a desire to express the emotional disequilibrium that reflects the times in which we are living.”

Ellen Chuse has been a member of 440 Gallery for over 18 years, and for 25 years has been an active participant in the Gowanus arts community. Chuse received her BFA in Fine Arts from the Philadelphia College of Art (later UArts) and her MFA in Sculpture from Queens College, CUNY. She received a Fulbright Fellowship to Italy for sculpture in 1972-73. Her work has been exhibited widely, from the New York metropolitan area to South Korea, including Austin, Rome, and Berlin. In Brooklyn her work has been shown at the Kentler International Drawing Space, Established Gallery, Site:Brooklyn, Sweet Lorraine Gallery, and St. Joseph's University, as well as the Art on Paperfair in Manhattan. Earlier this year she was invited to show three large paintings at the Romanian Cultural Institute as part of Brâncuși Reimagined: A Legacy Alive, which inspired her to exhibit her sculpture and paintings together.

In the Project Space:

“The Inside Outside”: Jo-Ann Acey, Karen Gibbons, Sohn Plenefisch, Robin Roi

The Project Space is featuring the work of Jo-Ann Acey, Karen Gibbons, Sohn Plenefisch, and Robin Roy in a show with a compelling premise. The Inside Outside promotes thoughtful consideration of the nature of artistic expression. We might think of these works as an outward manifestation of the artist’s interior life. Or perhaps they are expressing a desire to turn orthodox thinking on its head. The Inside Outside beckons one to take in this work with an open mind, then see where it might lead.

Jo-Ann Acey’s abstract paintings on paper conjure up landscapes that are at once a vast overview, and an intimate exploration of place. They are reminiscent of spaces we have known or imagined, such as the countryside or the seashore, and the abstracted nature of the work gives it a dreamlike quality. In these paintings the palette of saturated color and spontaneous application of her medium adds to Acey’s emotional sense of place which likens to visual diaries.

The constructions by Karen Gibbons are made from collaged paper and mixed media on hinged or segmented boards. Her use of disparate materials serves as a metaphor for the fragmented, pieced together nature of identity, history, and experience. Through Gibbon's’ process of collage and stratification of materials, the layered dynamics of mind, body, and spirit resonate physically in the work. Her interest in duality, particularly the idea of humanity as part of nature has also been an ongoing fascination. As Gibbons states, “I am often thinking about insides and outsides.”

Showing for the first time at 440 Gallery Sohn Plenefisch presents work that reflects their background in theater, an immersive world of varied textures. Blending three dimensional elements with flat painting, and using techniques such as foam carving, texture sculpting, resin pours, and crystal embellishments Plenefisch makes light, reflection, and movement a core element in this work. The mixed media introduces a dynamic quality as the interaction of the light across the surface shifts depending on the viewers position. This interplay between the work and the viewer amplifies Plenefisch’s themes of solitude, loss, and vacancy.

Robin Roi’s works on paper incorporate mono-printing, found papers, and other materials she has collected over decades. Pattern is a central theme in Roi’s work, and it also functions as a structural support for her imagery. She draws inspiration from a wide range of historic, botanic, and cross cultural references including quilts, wallpaper, fabric, tattoos, fields of tobacco, cornrowed hair designs, and stacks of grocery store melons. These are layered with personal symbols and imagery creating both visual and metaphorical depth.

For press and sales inquiries, including interviews with our artists, please contact Pam Wong, Gallery Director, at 718-499-3844; info@440gallery.com. For more information on these shows, the exhibiting artists, and the gallery, go to our website at 440gallery.com.