Opening Reception: Saturday, February 15, 4:00 - 6:00 pm

Artist Talk: Sunday, March 2, 4:40 pm

440 Gallery is pleased to present Karen Gibbons’s solo exhibition Allusions (Illusions and Delusions). Gibbons explores humanity's complex relationship within nature, delving into the layers of identity, history, and experience that shape our understanding of ourselves. Using a blend of found materials, collage, acrylic, and pastel, her work reflects on the interplay between the literal, the emotional, and the abstract. She creates a visual language that speaks to the illusions and delusions embedded within our perception of reality.

Gibbons’s work is influenced by Native American philosophies that view the natural world not as separate from humanity, but as intrinsically joined. This foundational belief permeates her practice, where she creates paintings that embody the interconnectedness of all things. The subjects in her work emerge from complex, layered backgrounds, often resembling the delicate translucency of organza. These backgrounds are built from images that she has gathered over time—images that resonate with her aesthetically, emotionally, or culturally. Her process of layering these elements creates a subtle yet rich tapestry, weaving together fragments of life, culture, and memory.

Gibbons questions our common separation of body, mind, and spirit—three aspects of our being that, in truth, are deeply interconnected. In her piece Inside Out, a figure outlined in red stands in a somewhat threatening, defensive stance. Upon closer inspection, however, the viewer is invited into a more intimate world composed of revealing X-ray images. The intricate layers within the body serve as metaphors for introspection and self-exploration, questioning the hidden forces that shape us.

In the end, her compositions reflect the belief that every component—visible or hidden—contributes to the greater whole.

Karen Gibbons is a longtime member of 440 Gallery—she had her first solo show at the gallery in 2008. Born in Pennsylvania, she came to New York to study painting at Pratt Institute. Later, having received her MFA at Hunter College, her work became more sculptural. Based in Gowanus, Brooklyn since 1984, she works in sculpture, painting, photography, and mixed media. Her work has been shown in many venues in the United States and internationally. Over the years she has crafted a life that incorporates many identities: mother, yogi, art therapist, curator, artist, and adventurer.

In the Project Space: Lost and Found

Leigh Blanchard, Amanda Michele Brown, Jon Bunge, and Juliet Martin are showing work in the Project Space that revolves around the theme of lost and found. Whether it is feelings or objects, distant memories or former methods of creating, these works explore what it means to reconnect with something that had once seemed remote from the here and now.

Leigh Blanchard’s latest photographic and mixed media work involves the physical ripping of the paper which is then re-attached with t-pins. These collaged works are not typical for Blanchard whose work is usually much less tactile. They are a visual response to more than a year of self-exploration and reflection which culminated in a diagnosis of ASD (autism spectrum disorder). Here she is working through feelings of hiding and revealing, losing herself, and finding herself again. Blanchard states, “I felt the need to put my hands all over the paper. Soaking my prints underwater, ripping at the surface, and stitching paper together with pins was an incredibly cathartic experience.”

In his first Project Space show as a member of 440 Gallery Jon Bunge is exhibiting sculpture created from branches. By reconfiguring branch segments into various forms he calls attention to the natural beauty of the branch’s structure and color. And, by placing these branch sculptures in the context of a gallery we are moved to see not only the intricacy of his medium, but also Bunge’s sensibility. There is a delicacy to these works that extends to the shadows cast by the branches. He states, “In making sculptures with tree branches I feel as if I am finding my relationship to the natural world again.”

Amanda Michele Brown’s work titled 30 Days consists of mixed media on paper mounted on 30 6” x 6” panels of which 25 are exhibited here. Each panel represents a day from January 2024 when Brown was experiencing life as a new mother. 30 Days is a meditation on time where each piece is an echo of the mixed emotions felt in everyday moments. It is an expression of the balance between chaos and order, a breakdown of memory into structure and flow. As a reflection of her postpartum experience Brown shares that, “…I both lost a bit of myself and found so much more.”

For Juliet Martin, Lost and Found represents the rediscovery of a process she last employed in 2000. Twenty-five years later she finds herself using this technique again. It involves scanned marker drawings, monoprints, and watercolor brushstrokes that are then combined in Photoshop to create prints that look deceptively handmade. Here, Martin uses the same technique, but now combines it with weaving to create mixed media wall hangings. The new works take her process further, yet they always recall the past prints. The method once lost to time is now at the front of her mind. “Do you see me through the computer?,” Martin asked then, and now asks again.

For press and sales inquiries, including interviews with our artists, please contact Pam Wong, Gallery Director, at 718-499-3844; info@440gallery.com.