Mixed Greens is pleased to present Alessandra Expòsito’s fourth solo show with the gallery. In this exhibition, Expòsito will present a new series of hybrid sculptures composed of found objects and crafted organic forms, drawing on sentimental associations of loss.

Expòsito has long used recycled, found objects, usually in the form of animal skulls. In Once-blooming and Button-eyed, she moves from the barnyard to the roadside, where she is inspired by the evocative nature of stray, discarded furniture that decays and decomposes back into the earth. Similar to past bodies of work, Expòsito is constructing fictional narratives that reveal glimpses into the past lives of these objects and those who lived with them.

Central to the exhibit is a nightstand, reminiscent of one the artist had as a child in the 70s, altered and overtaken by growth. A sculpted tree bores through and envelops the structure, conjuring images of forgotten yard furniture, and calling attention to the temporal nature of once-cherished objects. The weathered tree buzzes with remnants of sentimental memories, recalling childhood pets and summers spent outdoors. A glass-dome encases sculpted insects, plant replicas, and rotting potatoes that mimic the twisted shape of the tree—a child-sized cabinet of curiosities. The fragile imagery of rotting vegetables, goldfish, baby birds, vines, and flowers, done in white, porcelain-like clay, conjures up the mysteries of unfinished lives, and the losses that sometimes come with age.

Alessandra Expòsito lives and works in Queens, NY. After receiving her MFA from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers in 1998, she has shown in numerous exhibitions. Venues include Ambrosino Gallery (Miami, FL), the Academy of Arts and Letters (NY, NY), Schroeder Romero Gallery (NY, NY), the Nathan Cummings Foundation (NY, NY), The Shore Institute of Contemporary Arts (Long Branch, NJ), and Art in General (NY, NY). Museum exhibitions include “Open House, Working in Brooklyn,” at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, “Miniatures” at the Jersey City Museum, “El Museo’s Biennial” at El Museo del Barrio, NY, and 21C Museum, Louisville, KY. Expòsito was the recipient of a Marie Walsh Sharpe Studio and a MacDowell Colony residence. In 2005, she won the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award and the Purchase Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2007, she won a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship in sculpture. She most recently participated in SALPICA, a traveling exhibition in which her work was featured at: El Museum Nacional de Etnografía y Folklore, La Paz, Bolivia; Biblioteca Publica Virgilio Barco, Bogota, Colombia; Centro Municipal de Arte y Cultura, Guatemala City, Guatemala; and El Bicentenario, El Centro de Arte Contemporáneo,