Domesticated Paintings and Collage by Karen Gibbons May 8 - June 8, 2014 Opening Reception: Friday, May 9, 6:00 - 9:00 PM

440 Gallery Presents Domesticated

Paintings and Collage by Karen Gibbons

 

Brooklyn, NY-- An unbridled horse towers over a
house; a bear lumbers through a vague unnatural landscape; a child and
large bird nestle with one another: animal imagery suggests passions or
instincts often subdued by our social mores. In Domesticated, Karen Gibbons' fourth solo exhibit at  440 Gallery,
these images dominate her paintings and collages, subtly provoking the
tension between the tame, contained aspects of our culture and the
natural animal impulses of the individual.  Gibbons' work recalls
aspects of both Twombly and Chagall; as here she uses animal imagery to
create an emotional narrative about self-transformation.  Domesticated will be exhibited from May 8 through June 8, 2014, with an opening reception on Friday, May 9, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. Several events related to the exhibition are planned, including a hands-on workshop for children. More information at www.440gallery.com.

 

The
painting that marks Gibbons' pivotal foray into this series is a
tribute to her late cousin. It depicts a large white horse superimposed
on a house. The artist mixes photographic collage with layers of
transparent acrylic paint to create a shifting, ghostlike impression.
Her practice of incorporating found objects and painting over found
canvases introduces the elements of chance and discovery into the work.
In this series, Gibbons has used enlarged prints of old family
photographs, mingling memory and emotion with the surreal and mystical.
The animals - birds, horses, dogs - in all the works are symbolic, but
they also refer to actual events in the artist's life.  The horse is
more than a mythological symbol of freedom or passage to another world,
it is the animal that fascinated and carried the artist and her cousin
on its back in their childhood.

 

Karen Gibbons
has been living and working in Brooklyn for more than 30 years, she
holds a BFA from Pratt Institute, an MFA from Hunter College, and has
shown her work regularly throughout New York City.  Related professional
experience includes painting murals, curating exhibitions, bookmaking,
and teaching. Karen's creative inspiration is informed by her other work
as an art therapist, a certified yoga instructor, and as a mother of
three.