EXPO Chicago

ANDY BURGESS

b. 1969, London, UK

Lauded by Annabel Sampson, Deputy Editor of Tatler as “the next David Hockney” painter Andy Burgess, who hails from London but lives in Arizona, continues to expand upon his fascination with contemporary architecture. Burgess selects the subjects for his paintings with the discernment of the portrait painter. Buildings are chosen for their clean lines, bold geometric design, and dynamic forms. Burgess approaches his subjects with a fresh eye, simplifying and abstracting forms even further and inventing, somewhat irreverently, new colour schemes that expand the modernist lexicon beyond the minimalist white palette and rigid use of primary colours. Real places are sometimes re-invented, the architecture and design altered and modified, with new furniture and landscaping and a theatrical lighting that invests the painted scene with a dream-like quality and a peaceful and seductive allure.

Burgess explores in depth the genesis of modern architecture in Europe and the US and its relationship to modern art, avant-garde design, and abstract painting. Burgess explains his fascination with modernist architecture thusly:

‘Despite the huge impact of early modern architecture, the innovative and subtle minimalist buildings that I am researching, with their concrete and steel frames, flat roofs, and glass walls, never became the dominant mode of twentieth century building. We have continued to build the vast majority of houses in a traditional and conservative idiom, so that these great examples of modern architecture, designed by the likes of Gropius, Loos and Breuer to name but a few, are still shocking and surprising today in their boldness and modernity, almost a hundred years after they were built.’

Andy Burgess’s work combines two of his greatest artistic passions, mid-century and modernist architecture, and collage. The Cynthia Corbett Gallery is proud to present a new body of works by Andy for Expo Chicago 2025. In his series of highly intricate pieces, Burgess has used hand painted paper to construct renditions of his favorite modern architecture. Replacing acrylic paint with gorgeous permanent inks he has introduced another level of textural interest. The ink adds a beautiful translucency and wash-like textures to the surface of the image…. making the finished work somewhat tapestry and mosaic like. The pleasure of these works lies in the complex shapes, the analogue quality of the fabrication and the sparkling crystalline colors. Those familiar with his work will recognize some of the iconic subject matter such as Frank Lloyd Wright’s wonderful Guggenheim Museum and famous Fallingwater residence as well as Los Angeles classics such as The Stahl House and other desert modern masterpieces. But there is an eclectic range of architectural subjects that spans decades and continents in a quest to do justice to the architecture of modern times!

Alongside the large-scale paintings, Burgess creates collages which reflect his love of vintage graphics, particularly those from the 1930s–50s, a “golden age” in American graphic design and advertising. Burgess has been collecting vintage American ephemera for many years; this ephemera is then unapologetically deconstructed, cut up into tiny pieces and reconstructed into visual and verbal poems, dazzling multi-coloured pop art pieces, and constructed cityscapes.

Burgess has completed many important commissions for public and private institutions including Crossrail (London’s largest ever engineering project), Cunard, APL shipping, Mandarin Oriental Hotels, a new medical centre in San Jose, California and most recently, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London.

In 2021 Andy Burgess started creating a series of site-specific artworks for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London. The project, initiated by CW+ – the official charity of the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust – and facilitated by Cynthia Corbett Gallery, which represents Burgess internationally, aims to improve and enhance the NICU environment for patients, relatives and staff.

Working together with the NICU team, Burgess was reminiscing on the hospital’s neighbourhoods and its iconic views, sights and buildings in collaboration with hospital staff. Known for his unique, abstract and colourful style, Andy has transformed selected London scenes into incredible artworks to create a warm and welcoming environment for both parents and staff to enjoy. The display, installed on the 16th June 2022, includes a panorama of London, an image of Albert Bridge and another of a London Underground station. Additionally, Andy produced two smaller scale abstract pieces developed from the colour palettes of his larger works, which were gifted as part of the commission. CW+ also acquired two existing works by Andy for the unit through Cynthia Corbett Gallery.

Burgess’s collectors include the Booker prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro, actor and writer Emma Thompson, the Tisch family in New York, Beth De Woody, Board Member of The Whitney Museum and Richard and Ellen Sandor in Chicago, who have one of the top 100 art collections in America.

In March 2023, Burgess publicated of a new limited edition book of abstract ink on paper collages called Tiger’s Eye in conjunction with an exhibition at Laughlin Mercantile in Tucson, Arizona and the release of four luxurious silk scarf designs based on the collages.

Andy Burgess has been represented internationally by Cynthia Corbett Gallery since 2004.

ASHLEY JANUARY

b. 1987, Rantoul, Illinois, USA

Ashley January creates contemporary paintings informed by her maternal experience. Exploring themes of preeclampsia, premature birth, and healing after experiencing birth trauma, her newest body of work presented by The Cynthia Corbett Gallery at Expo Chicago 2025 will continue to address the Black maternal mortality and morbidity crisis in America. Running concurrently with Expo Chicago, Ashley will also be exhibiting at The Art of Infertility IVF Pop up Exhibition Light the Night, Stories Through Art curated by Katherine Gressel in New York. Ashley became the first recipient of the Women’s Caucus for Art 2022 Emerging Artist Award and debuted her series, Environments of a Heavy Joy, last year at the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London. Last spring, Cynthia Corbett Gallery presented her series at EXPO Chicago 2024. She was selected as a finalist for the 2022 Artadia Chicago Award, and in January 2023, she had the second installment of her solo exhibition, Human | Mother | Black, at Western Illinois University. Ashley was included in the group exhibition Mama Needs a Raise! at the Old Stone House in Brooklyn, New York, and was invited to participate in the Art on a Postcard, War Child UK auction. In 2023, she was invited to participate in the Unit London (Voices) online group exhibition Naissance/Re-Naissance.

Tufts University School of Medicine’s Center for Black Maternal Health and Reproductive Justice acquired multiple paintings from her series. She was also included in the London Art Fair Platform curation through Cynthia Corbett Gallery. Her works have been exhibited in numerous venues, including Apex Art, New York, NY; the Young Masters Autumn Exhibition in London, UK; the South Side Community Art Center, Chicago, IL; Art Division, Los Angeles, CA; SoLA Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA; the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL; South Shore Arts, Munster, IN; Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA; Pacific Art Foundation, Newport Beach, CA; and the Irvine Fine Arts Center, Irvine, CA. Recently, she was featured in the January 2023 issue of Luxe Interiors + Design Chicago magazine. Her paintings have also been featured in the television series Kings of Napa on OWN. In 2018, she was selected as a first-place award winner at the Woman Made Gallery’s Midwest Open in Chicago. In 2017, Ashley won the Beverly Bank Best of Show Award at the Beverly Arts Center’s juried competition.

Ashley earned her MFA in Painting from Laguna College of Art and Design, Laguna Beach, CA, in 2017, and her BS in Communication with an Advertising concentration and Minor in Studio Art from Bradley University, Peoria, IL, in 2009. She lives in Chicago with her family while working from home and her studio at Mana Contemporary.

"I address the Black maternal mortality and morbidity crisis in America through painting and multimedia. Influenced by my own traumatic pregnancy and survival, the imagery centers the experiences of Black mothers, birthing people, and children who have suffered adverse birth outcomes. Through often imagined spaces reflecting memory and time, mined from narrative recounts and photographic documentation, the figures demonstrate how they cope. Notions around the active choice of healing and finding joy surface while simultaneously challenging the institutional modes in finding systemic solutions. Confronting themes through quiet, often heavy motifs, the environments articulate the imposed health effects disproportionately experienced. All familial perspectives are considered after a tangential birth trauma survival. Continuing the delicately layered conversations surrounding Black maternal health, the images serve as a global call to action for more awareness, research, and the eradication of preventable maternal and infant loss." Ashley January

Ashley January is represented internationally by Cynthia Corbett Gallery.

FREYA BRAMBLE-CARTER

b. 1991, UK

Freya Bramble-Carter is a London-based ceramic artist, known for creating contemporary designs, often strongly inspired by a balancing flow of femininity and masculinity, with an appreciation for the power of nature and the universe we live in. Freya combines her lifestyle of imagining and working with clay, as well as her life experiences and personal philosophies, into one—changing delusion and enjoyment into a unified expression. She strives to live in the most authentic way true to herself, in order to learn about life and expand.

Freya’s collaborative work with her father, renowned ceramicist Chris Bramble, explores intergenerational creativity, identity, and heritage through clay. One of their joint pieces was recently acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, marking a significant milestone in both their practices and celebrating the power of family legacy in contemporary ceramics.

Freya’s work ranges from fine homewares, including plates and bowls, to large outdoor sculptural pieces and water features for interior or outdoor spaces. Applying her talent to artisan glazes and handcrafting unique silhouettes, Freya's limited-edition pieces are designed to elevate spaces and evoke awe, often through beauty and tactile appeal. Freya’s connectivity to her practice extends to her body of work within international workshops. The practice connects mind, body, and soul, allowing her creative expression to be shared with all.

Freya, a 2013 graduate of Chelsea School of Art, has been represented by Cynthia Corbett Gallery since 2021. Notable exhibitions include Collect 2022–2024, Art Miami debut 2022, "Body Vessel Clay" curated by Dr. Jareh Das, and "Like Paradise" at Claridge's, curated by Ekow Eshun. In 2023, Freya was featured on Alexa's Art Tour with British Vogue, where she and Alexa Chung delved into discussions about change and artistic expression during an insightful interview held in Freya's studio. Earlier in 2024, Freya was one of six London-based artists featured in the Uniqlo & JW Anderson Spring/Summer 2024 collection, celebrating its rich historical context.

Freya Bramble-Carter is represented internationally by Cynthia Corbett Gallery.

MATT SMITH

b. 1971, Cambridgeshire, UK

Matt Smith is a multi award-winning artist based in Ireland and England. He is well known for his site-specific work in museums, galleries and historic houses. Using clay, textiles and their associated references, he explores how cultural organisations operate using techniques of institutional critique and artist intervention. Smith is interested in how history is a constantly selected and refined narrative that presents itself as a fixed and accurate account of the past and how, through taking objects and repurposing them in new situations, this can be brought to light. Of particular interest to him is how museums can be reframed into alternative perspectives.

After Steinbeck:

Following his recent exhibitions at Kensington Palace (London, 2024) and the Victoria and Albert Museum (London, 2025), Matt J Smith has developed this new body of work specifically for Expo Chicago in response to John Steinbeck’s 1947 novel The Pearl.

The Pearl is a lesson in the destructive power of avarice. Kino, an impoverished pearl diver in Mexico, finds an immense pearl which he believes will solve all of his difficulties. Jealousy, greed and corruption amongst those around him lead Kino through a series of disasters, resulting in the death of his son. He ends up throwing the pearl back into the sea.

The works are made from parianware clay and freshwater pearls. Parianware was traditionally used to create sculptures of individuals in the 19th century. These works are sculptures of contemporary society. They symbolise a desire to be saved by possessions and people, even when that might ultimately prove to be destructive

Matt J Smith is best known for his work with museums and collections. He recontextualises museum collections to consider overlooked or erased narratives, often incorporating LGBTQ+ histories and legacies of colonisation. Solo exhibitions include Losing Venus at the Pitt Rivers Museum, Flux: Parian Unpacked at the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge (UK), Who Owns History at Hove Museum and Queering he Museum at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham Art Gallery (UK) and the Victoria and Albert Museum London (UK). Notable group shows have included Dublin Castle (Ireland), Gustavsberg Konsthall, Stockholm (Sweden) and the Crawford Art Gallery, Cork (Ireland). In 2015/16 he was artist in residence at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He holds a PhD from the University of Brighton and was Professor at Konstfack University, Stockholm.

In 2020 he was awarded the Brookfield Prize at Collect and the Contemporary Art Society acquired a body of his work for Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. His work is also held in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Walker Art Gallery, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, National Museum of Scotland, National Museum of Northern Ireland and the Crafts Council collection.

Matt Smith is represented internationally by Cynthia Corbett Gallery and was the winner of the Young Masters Maylis Grand Ceramics Prize in 2014.

MARGO SELBY

b. 1977, Eastbourne, UK

Selby is an artist and designer working with colour and geometric form in textiles. She makes handwoven artworks, and oversees the design work of the Margo Selby Studio for mill production and commercial textiles applications – her tenet being ‘Art Into Industry’ – an approach to making art that is akin to that of the ‘Old Masters’ and mistresses, with their expanded studios and public commissions.

Selby uses thread to create abstract geometric artworks that explore repetition and transition, symmetry and asymmetry, the dynamic and the stable. She is interested in the relationship between the body and the machine, hand and industry, craft and technology. The loom, and the disciplined nature of weaving as a practice, provides boundaries and constraints which can be tested. The orderly nature of the craft of weaving is reflected in the developing designs of the artworks. She is satisfied by rhythmic and uniform repetition – where each element of a composition is changed in a methodical progression.

The Shuttle Series:

Weaving, Technology, Space The Shuttle Series, a new body of large scale woven textile artworks by Margo Selby, is inspired by the intricate nature of the circuit boards and woven wire used in technology. The narrative parallels the woven threads of textiles and the wired connections of circuit boards and electrical engineering. This series follows the artist’s acclaimed ‘moonlanding’ installation at Somerset House, which was created alongside a musical score for 6 strings written by Helen Caddick. It tells the story of the women weavers who were involved in the making of the memory core and circuit boards for the Apollo 11, which in 1969 successfully landed on the moon. Through precise, graphic compositions and flowing colour transitions, the work explores the synergy between art, craftsmanship and engineering, considering the ways in which woven structures can create both functionality and visual stimulation. Colour is always central to Margo Selby’s work, carefully orchestrating transitions and gradients of colour to conjure the vibrant energy found in space: deep inky sky, celestial objects, and gradients of aurora colour. Complementing the vibrant palette, the graphic patterns are deliberately designed to resemble interwoven elements. These create a sense of layer and depth, echoing the intricate structure of both traditional weaving and electrical circuit boards. Woven in British wool and cotton, the series embraces the tactile warmth of natural fibres while maintaining a sharp, structured aesthetic reminiscent of the organised nature of wires within technology and engineering. These sculptural works invite viewers to reflect on the interwoven nature of art, science, and technology and how threads—whether in fabric or in code—shape the world around us. Note: each work is designed to be viewed in the round, with an ‘Aspect 1’ and ‘Aspect 2’.

Margo Selby pursued her studies at Chelsea College of Art & Design and the Royal College of Art in London, with an additional term at the prestigious Atelier National d’Art in Paris. She now teaches across various institutions and runs her own studio, where she leads specialist weaving workshops. In 2020, she was awarded the Crafts Council’s Collect Open Award for her monumental textile installation Vexillum at Somerset House, followed by the esteemed Turner Medal in 2021, recognizing her as “Britain’s Greatest Colourist.” That same year, she delivered the Turner Lecture, offering a personal insight into her creative practice. Her work was featured widely throughout 2022, with appearances at major applied arts and craft fairs including Collect, London Craft Week, and the London Art Fair. In 2023, Selby exhibited at Art Miami, the British Art Fair, and once again at Collect. This year, she will present her acclaimed piece Moon Landing within the historic setting of Canterbury Cathedral.

Margo Selby is represented internationally by Cynthia Corbett Gallery

ARTSY VIEWING ROOMS
As part of our long-standing collaboration with Artsy (now 10 years!) we’ve created dedicated viewing rooms for each of our wonderful artists:
Andy Burgess – Viewing Room
Matt Smith – Viewing Room
Ashley January – Viewing Room
Margo Selby – Viewing Room
Freya Bramble-Carter – Viewing Room

As well as our dedicated Expo Chicago Viewing Room.

For all sales enquiries please contact Gallery Founder & Director Cynthia Corbett at sales@thecynthiacorbettgallery.com