The Art Scene: 04.12.18

Claire Watson at Ille

“The Thing Is,” a solo show of new work by Claire Watson, will open at Ille Arts in Amagansett with a reception on Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. and remain on view through May 14.

The exhibition will include large wall-mounted pieces and 12 drawings and gouaches on paper by the artist, who lives in Water Mill. The objects are constructed from intact pattern pieces of leather clothing that has been taken apart at the seams.

Double Play at Halsey McKay

Joseph Hart, an artist based in Brooklyn, has organized “Hog’s Curve,” a show of work by 11 artists that occupies the ground floor of the Halsey McKay Gallery in East Hampton, and is exhibiting his own work in the upstairs space. Both exhibitions are on view through May 12.

“Hog’s Curve” alludes to a theory of the 18th-century artist and writer William Hogarth, who proposed that serpentine lines signify liveliness and action, while straight and parallel lines imply stasis, or death. The works in the show “weave in and out of each other, establishing a sense of formal interconnectedness while maintaining their own tempo, conceptual sovereignty, and individualism,” according to Mr. Hart. 

Mr. Hart’s exhibition consists of two-dimensional works on both linen and paper that suggest concrete subjects or objects but ultimately dissolve into abstract configurations of layered colors and marks and folded and cut paper.

New at Rental Gallery

“Retrograde,” a solo exhibition of work by Cameron Welch, will open at the Rental Gallery in East Hampton with a reception on Saturday from 4 to 6 p.m. and continue through May 16.

Each of Mr. Welch’s new pieces begins with an individually cut and placed mosaic tile. The artist, who lives in Brooklyn, embeds found objects such as CDs, combs, a broom, even a keyboard into the completed tiling, which is then painted and collaged over, hiding evidence of the craft behind them. The archival quality of these works suggests “sedimentary layers studded with fossils . . . at once frozen and alive,” according to a release.

Contemporary Surrealism

The RJD Gallery in Bridgehampton will open “Surreal Alternative,” an exhibition devoted to contemporary Surrealist painters, with a reception on Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. The show will continue through May 13.

Participating artists include Fatih Gurbuz, Alexander Klingspor, Jorge Santos, Margo Selski, Salvatore Alessi, Armando Valero, and Harmonia Rosales. 

Three at the White Room

“Element of Surprise,” an exhibition of work by Nikki Codis, Nicholas Down, and Jackie Fuchs, will be on view at the White Room Gallery in Bridgehampton from tomorrow through April 29, with a reception set for Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m.

Ms. Codis’s abstract paintings reflect her interest in the materiality of paint and the expressive qualities of color. Many of Mr. Down’s vibrantly colored abstract paintings are inspired by the American Southwest and the northwest of Scotland. Ms. Fuchs’s whimsical collages feature long-necked people in colorful rooms filled with midcentury furniture.

New Head at Arts Center

The Southampton Arts Center has announced the appointment of Tom Dunn as its executive director. Mr. Dunn comes to Southampton from Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, where he was part of the senior management team.

Most recently, as senior director of concert halls operations, he led the effort to redesign and elevate the overall guest experience at Lincoln Center. He previously served as founding director of the David Rubenstein Atrium and aide to the president of the center. He has also worked as a writer, producer, and director in the Off Broadway, comedy, and television industries.

Salomon to Marlborough

James Salomon, whose 20 years as an art dealer and curator included a six-year stretch of notable exhibitions at his Salomon Contemporary Warehouse on Plank Road in East Hampton, has been named director of sales and client relations at the Marlborough Gallery in Manhattan.

In 2010, after closing the East Hampton space, which he operated while simultaneously serving as director at the Mary Boone Gallery, he launched Salomon Contemporary in Chelsea. Among the many notable artists with East End connections he showed are Alice Aycock, Ned Smyth, Michael Halsband, Jill Musnicki, Mike Solomon, Billy Sullivan, Maziar Behrooz, and Michelle Stuart.