440 Gallery Presents Look Again Paintings of Unseen Views by Ella Yang

Brooklyn, NY – One might wonder why an artist like Ella Yang, whose passion for plein air painting was ignited in the lush countryside of Italy’s Umbria, would want to paint disintegrating pilings in the Gowanus Canal, or a local bodega that has seen better days.

Yang, in fact, has painted many such views over the past several years. As trite as it is, the saying “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” holds true for Yang, who finds aesthetic appeal in the commonplace, often overlooked structures and scenes in her surroundings. Her second solo exhibition at the 440 Gallery, Look Again, will showcase a selection of these paintings from October 23 to November 23, 2014. A reception to meet the artist will take place on Friday, October 24, 2014, from 6 to 8 pm.

Yang finds poetry in the way sunlight strikes and reflects off surfaces, whether a man-made object or a natural one, and in the patterns shadows create. Her paintings have a timeless quality, as she selects views that focus on the old, especially the architectural elements that pervade her compositions. This selection of works also has poignancy – some of the paintings, such as Eagle Clothes, depict aspects of Brooklyn neighborhoods that are disappearing gradually.

Yang takes great pleasure in traditional methods of oil painting. Typically, she starts a painting on-site and returns multiple times to develop the composition, build up masses of colors, and correct tonal values. Back at her studio, she often applies glazes to heighten the translucency and a sense of light in specific areas of a painting. She states that “at best my paintings pay tribute to the abundant benefits of attentiveness.”

Ella Yang, a native New Yorker and first-generation Korean-American, is mostly self-taught. Yang shows her work at the 440 Gallery and in solo and group exhibitions at other galleries in New York City and environs. She also sells directly from her studio near the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. Her paintings are in private collections in the United States, as well as in Hong Kong, Italy, France, and Austria. In August, the renowned ART in Embassies program honored her with the selection of three paintings for the U.S. Embassy in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2006, she spent a month at the internationally recognized artist residency program the Vermont Studio Center. She is proud to be included in the book 100 New York Painters, by Cynthia M. Dantzic (Schiffer Books, 2006). Yang is a graduate of Yale College with a B.A. in architecture.

The 440 Gallery is located at 440 Sixth Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn, between 9th and 10th Streets, and is convenient to the F, G, and R subways. The gallery is open on Thursday and Friday, 4-7 pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 11 am – 7 pm, or by appointment.

Find out more: www.440gallery.com