Catherine Orrok: Collateral Blessings — New Exhibition at 440 Gallery
440 Gallery’s latest exhibition pairs a solo show built on chance and reconstruction with a Project Space group show centered on nature – both opening this month in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
About the Exhibition: Collateral Blessings
Catherine Orrok’s solo exhibition of abstract paintings begins with a grid-based composition, which she then cuts into squares through a predetermined process designed to remove choice from the act itself. From there, she reassembles the pieces through intuitive visual decisions, arriving at a new composition shaped by both structure and accident. Collateral Blessings explores that dynamic – the relationship between intention and chance – across the resulting body of work.
Orrok, who was born and raised in New Jersey, received her BA in Art from Fairleigh Dickinson University and her MFA from Hunter College in 1982. Her work has shown at Hunter College Gallery, the Catskill Arts Space, Albany Center Gallery, and internationally at EP Contemporary in Berlin. This marks her second solo show at 440 Gallery.
In the Project Space: Whispers of the Natural World
Running alongside Orrok’s show, this group exhibition brings together four artists – Jon Bunge, Ellen Chuse, Axelle Destaing, and Sohn Plenefisch – working across sculpture, painting, and photography, each drawing on a close, attentive relationship to the natural world.
- Jon Bunge works directly with tree branches, shaping sculptures that highlight the diversity of form, texture, and color found in trees themselves.
- Ellen Chuse continues her investigation of organic, archetypal forms through layered, saturated acrylic paintings on paper.
- Axelle Destaing uses Intentional Camera Movement (ICM), a technique that turns light, color, and motion into expressive abstract photographs of sea, sky, soil, and air.
- Sohn Plenefisch contributes Anthropocene (i’m glad I didn’t die before i met you), a three-canvas painting centered on a white-hot core surrounded by smoke-filled sky, with a lone bird caught at the edge of the frame.
Opening Reception
When: Saturday, September 12, 4:00 – 6:00pm Artist Talk: TBD Where: 440 Gallery, 440 6th Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Exhibition Details
On view: September 10 – October 11, 2026 Address: 440 6th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215 Website: 440gallery.comHours: Thursday & Friday, 4-7pm; Saturday & Sunday, 12-6pm
Exhibition details are current as of September 2026 and subject to change – check 440gallery.com for the latest hours and updates before you visit.
