Vicki Behm “A Retrospective”

440 Gallery

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440 Gallery presents Vicki Behm: A Retrospective, a gallery-wide solo exhibition. In the long arc of her career, Vicki Behm has shifted easily between the restrained elegance of architectural commissions to quirky line drawings that immortalize the beauty and sheer joy of extraordinarily ordinary things. Vicki’s hand-drawn journals are treasure troves of personal documentation and convey an intimate, wide-eyed look at a life lived in real time. With much of her artwork, Behm highlights a long love affair with Mexico and its deep folk traditions. Handmade paper, labels of elixirs and ephemera from Oaxaca are collaged into her signature ink drawings. Her Day of the Dead Skeletons—there are a few gangling giants in this show—are more human than ghostly. Vicki’s dramatic installation, 1000 Drawings of NYC, last seen in 2016 at 440 Gallery, will be represented by a selection of drawings that include new works created for this show.

Victoria Behm grew up in St. Louis. She earned Bachelor and Master degrees in journalism and design from the University of Missouri-Columbia and studied painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her works have been exhibited in Chicago and New York and have been collected by individuals and corporations. Two of her hand-drawn books were published online by Time Inc. and recently her drawings for a Cole Hahn ad campaign popped up all over the city. Every summer, Behm sets up a studio in Mexico; the rest of her year is spent in NYC, where she draws daily at her home in Manhattan’s West Village.