The Art Scene 02.04.16
Firestone Opens in N.Y.C.
The Eric Firestone Gallery will inaugurate its new Manhattan venue with “Miriam Schapiro: The California Years, 1967-1975,” which will open today with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. and remain on view through March 6. The gallery has also announced its exclusive representation of the artist’s estate.
In 1971, with Judy Chicago, Schapiro, for many years a part-time East Hampton resident and an early leader of the feminist art movement, founded the first feminist art program at the California Institute of the Arts. She began, during that decade, to collage cloth, paint, and fabric, materials long associated with women’s work, which placed her at the center of the Pattern and Decoration movement.
Eric Firestone Loft, located at 4 Great Jones Street, is a relatively raw space typical of the pre-gentrification live/work spaces of the 1960s and 1970s. Another exhibition, “Miriam Schapiro, A Visionary,” will be on view at the National Academy Museum from today through May 8.
Mckay, Too
Another East Hampton gallery, Halsey Mckay, has opened an outpost in Manhattan, at 56 Henry Street in Chinatown. 56 Henry is a joint venture between Halsey Mckay and Ellie Rines, whose previous space was at 55 Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District.
Ms. Rines will organize the exhibitions, and a room in the gallery will serve as a New York office for Halsey Mckay, where works can be viewed by appointment.
“Love and Passion”
At White Room
“Love and Passion,” a group exhibition of work by more than 50 artists, organized by Andrea McCafferty and Karyn Mannix, will open at the White Room Gallery in Bridgehampton with a reception Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m. It will run through Feb. 28.
The curators selected one piece from the several submitted by each participating artist. All media will be represented; no work will be larger than 36 x 36 inches.
A cash-only 50/50 raffle will be held at the opening, and guests will vote for the most original, most thought-provoking, and most true-to-theme works. Chris Carney will pour tastings of Diplomatico rum.
Michelle Stuart
At Bronx Museum
“Michelle Stuart, Theatre of Memory: Photographic Works” is on view at the Bronx Museum of the Arts through June 26. A reception for the artist, who has a house in Amagansett, will take place Wednesday from 6 to 8 p.m.
One of the pioneers of Earth Art, Ms. Stuart has engaged with nature in a variety of ways and materials throughout her four-decade career. The Bronx show, which focuses on the photography-based works that have been her primary interest for the past several years, features 12 large-scale works, including a major wall piece created for the exhibition.
Often presented in large grids of multiple images, the photographic work takes up her central preoccupations: memory, exploration, history, time, nature, human relationships, the cosmos, and cultural conflict.
S.I.S. Poster Sale
The Springs Improvement Society will hold its first-ever poster sale on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Ashawagh Hall. Unsigned posters going back to 1970 will be on sale for $20, a $15 discount. Signed posters will be available for 25 percent off, and T-shirts, books, mugs, and other merchandise will be sold as well.
Ewa Banas in Chelsea
Paintings and pastels by Ewa Banas, a Polish-born artist who has lived on the South Fork since 2001, will be on view in a group exhibition at the Amsterdam Whitney Gallery in Chelsea from tomorrow through March 22. A reception will take place next Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m.
Ms. Banas takes as her subjects local architecture, landscape, marine scenes, and still life. Her favorite medium is pastel, but she also draws on location using pen and ink, pencil, or pencil pastels.