Brooklyn, NY – 440 Gallery is proud to present, Burnt Offerings, an installation of hundreds of connected, small paper squares, suspended from the gallery’s ceiling. Amy Weil’s hanging installation creates a floating, ethereal grid that plays with light and shadow. The artist will also be showing her signature encaustic grid paintings, as well as whimsical paper wall sculptures.
This is Weil’s second solo show at 440 Gallery. In Burnt Offerings, Weil is giving expression to the trauma that many of us experienced during lock down. She states, “It still seems so inconceivable that we are now up to 600,000 deaths in this country alone.” In response to this tragedy, Weil created over 600 small collages and drawings that represent the 600,000 people who have died. Weil remarks, “Like every individual, every square has its own personality.”
The artist’s process of burning paper with a torch, soaking it in wax, and stitching each piece together becomes a meditative and healing act for the artist and viewer. It can be perceived as a metaphor for the human condition. For Weil, paper is very fragile, but becomes strong when it is soaked in encaustic medium. In her artist statement, she writes, “It has the feel of human skin. Both paper and skin are transparent and transform, the way skin transforms as we age. For Weil, there is making of history through the burns and mark making that gives each piece a memory of a time and place.
Burnt Offerings is a play on offering a sacrifice to the gods. These pieces are an offering of peace and healing. Weil wants the viewer to enter a space that feels tranquil as one might when walking through a sunlit forest.
The artists has shown extensively in New York, Brooklyn and New England. In 2020, Weil had a solo show at Established Gallery in Brooklyn, titled Dancing in the Dark. Weil was recently interviewed on the podcast Authentic Obsessions, and her work from her diary series was included in the tenth anniversary issue of A-Minor Magazine. Weil’s work is in many collections in the United States and Europe.
Burnt Offerings by Amy Weil
September 8-October 10, 2021
Reception: Saturday, September 11, 4-7pm
Artist’s Talk: To Be Announced
440 Gallery is located in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Subway: F & G to 7th Ave, R to 4 Ave/9 Street. Bus: B63, B67 to 9th St, B61 to 6th Ave. The gallery is open Wednesday– Friday 4-7pm, Saturday–Sunday 11am-7pm, or by appointment. Check the gallery’s website, 440gallery.com for more information.
