David B. Smith Gallery is delighted to welcome Brooklyn, NY-based artist Sarah Allwine for her debut solo exhibition with the gallery, Something for the familiar. Presented in the Project Room, Something for the familiar features intricately glazed ceramic sculptural works that speak to the present post-Internet mentality, combining a mash-up of early 2000’s references alongside ominous forest fauna, setting the stage for the nostalgic, modern, and contemporary to meet.

Allwine draws out a body of work that conjures both occult and camp connotations. Juxtaposing creatures charged with dark mythical symbolism—including flies, snakes, black cats, and ravens—with gummy peach rings and overripe fruit results in delightfully disjointed three-dimensional still lifes.

Offering an updated interpretation of Americana, Sarah Allwine’s vibrant ceramic sculptures induce an exhilarating visual whiplash, as viewers of the exhibition travel back through art history–to the iconic 1950s era of Pop Art, fast forward to early 2000s Millennial-coded popular culture references, up to the present, and back again. Cycling through imagery and color palette, Allwine’s Something for the familiar feels refreshingly new and comfortingly resonant at once.

Sarah Allwine’s talents are multifaceted: from the construction of ceramic sculptural works to her fine treatment of glazed surfaces, the skill of the hand is matched by the clarity and uniqueness of her artistic vision. Something for the Familiar takes viewers on a journey into the known unknown, a place where memory meets the present and lyrical connections are cleverly rendered in dimensional forms.