Primal Alchemy & Weight of a Blank Page

Dates: February 27 to April 5
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 1, 1-4pm
Artists’ Talk: Saturday, March 22, 2pm (Linda Ellinwood, Jamie Treacy and Todd Laby)
First Friday: March 7, 5-8pm
First Friday Closing Reception: April 4, 5-8pm
770 West Grand Ave, Oakland, CA 94612
Contact: [email protected]
(510) 271-0822
Gallery Hours: Thursdays-Saturdays, 12-5 pm and First Fridays, 5-8 pm

Gearbox Gallery is proud to present Primal Alchemy, an exhibition of new work by member artists Linda Ellinwood and Jamie Treacy. In their first feature exhibition together, Ellinwood and Treacy explore the primal in its connotation to early humanity, but also the psychological idea of primality as the origin of our emotional lives. The exhibition consists of Ellinwood’s sculptures made of materials like bull kelp, driftwood and palm pods; and Treacy’s works in acrylic and oil on panel.

Ellinwood’s materials are sourced from the plants and trees that populate her Bay Area landscape; friends and gardeners sometimes contribute to her organic material inventory. She then melds them in such a way that one might question if they occurred naturally or were finessed. The resulting sculptures are at once intimate, haunting and/or humorous.

Treacy’s latest series of paintings and drawings (all created in the eleven months since his show Creatures of Duality) examine the ancient human practice of watching fire rage and diminish. In his new series he includes acrylic paintings that are a study of the awesome and terrifying qualities of flames as well as drawings in oil stick that are further abstractions of raw energy and the stories that dancing flames inspire.

Showing in our Inner Room project space is Todd Laby’s The Weight of a Blank Page. Laby captures the fraught and intricate dynamics of beginning—the moment when inspiration meets hesitation, and endless possibilities collide with the fear of taking the first step.

A papier-mâché sculpture of cascading blank paper squeezes from the crack between two walls. The sculpture expresses the tension of creation: the pressure of ideas trying to emerge and the weight of decisions yet to be made. Across the room, a wall of sketches offers a frenetic counterpoint—a visual archive of scattered concepts, half-formed thoughts, and the chaotic beginnings of the creative impulse.

Through these contrasting elements, Laby invites viewers to step into the vulnerability of the creative process, exploring the frustration and courage required to move from blankness to expression.