The Art Scene: 02.26.15
Ralph Gibson on Film
The Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill will screen “Ralph Gibson: Photographer/Book Artist,” a Checkerboard Film Foundation production, tomorrow at 6 p.m.
Known for his distinctive graphic style, Mr. Gibson, who was born in Los Angeles in 1939, studied photography in the Navy and at the San Francisco Art Institute before working as an assistant for Dorothea Lange, the noted Farm Security Administration photographer, and Robert Frank, a photographer and filmmaker best known for his 1958 book, “The Americans.”
In 1970, Mr. Gibson published “The Somnambulist,” the first of many books that was innovative not only for the singularity of his vision but also because it established the bound, printed page as a viable alternative to the gallery exhibition. He is known for his stark, fragmentary black-and-white photographs that blend elements of eroticism, surrealism, and narrative.
Among the admirers offering commentary in the film are Mary Ellen Mark, Larry Clark, Eric Fischl, April Gornik, and Bryan Hunt. As for Mr. Gibson, he is, in the words of the Checkerboard Films website, “very much the star of his own life” in the film, discussing his childhood as a Hollywood movie extra, his Navy years, the nature of his artistic process, and the arc of his career.
Tickets are $10, free for members, students, and children.
Solo Show at Ashawagh
Marietta Gavaris, an artist who lives in Springs and New York City, will have a solo exhibition of new works on Saturday and Sunday at Ashawagh Hall in Springs. A reception featuring live jazz by Peter Martin Weiss and John Ludlow will be held Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m.
The exhibition will include more than 20 abstract paintings that explore line, shape, and texture with a wide-ranging and bold color palette. Ms. Gavaris has said that her work, inspired by the dichotomy of living in both the city and the country, attempts to reconcile the beauty of nature with the chaos and energy of New York.
Bartley Open Studio
The Watermill Center will host an open studio for Mary Ellen Bartley, an artist known for photographs that explore the tactile and formal qualities of the printed book, on Saturday from 3 to 5 p.m.
Ms. Bartley, who lives and works in Wainscott, will present work influenced by and created during her residence at the center. She will make a set of photographs using books from the Watermill Study Library as subjects. The photographs will be used to create a book of books.
She is represented by the Drawing Room in East Hampton and Yancey Richardson Gallery in New York and has exhibited her work worldwide.