The Art Scene: 05.14.15
The “Big Show” Returns
The Silas Marder Gallery in Bridgehampton will open for the 2015 season on Saturday with the ninth annual iteration of its “Big Show.” A reception with live music by the Peter Watrous Trio will take place Saturday from 4 to 8 p.m., and the show will run through June 20.
This year, 51 artists were commissioned to make three 8-by-10-inch paintings for the exhibition, without any directions other than to work from their current series. Among the materials employed with the format are concrete, steel, acrylic polymer, textile, weaving, and industrial detritus.
Participants include Sydney Albertini, Eric Brown, Richmond Burton, Don Christensen, Louise Eastman, Virva Hinnemo, Laurie Lambrecht, Gerson Leiber, Vincent Longo, Miguel Martinez Riddle, Christine Scuilli, Wendy Small, and Ross Watts.
New at Halsey Mckay
The Halsey Mckay Gallery in East Hampton has two new exhibitions on view through May 31. “Magic Mushrooms” features the work of Polly Apfelbaum and Joanne Greenbaum, and “Moon Mutt” is a solo show by Matt Rich.
Ms. Greenbaum’s paintings reveal the intricate play of forms, cutout shapes, negative spaces, drawing, and application of materials, but their compositions and palette can vary dramatically from painting to painting. Ms. Apfelbaum’s site-specific installations of suspended terra-cotta and porcelain beadworks show “a kindred use of color and similarly virtuosic handling,” according to the gallery.
Mr. Rich’s second solo exhibition at the gallery features new paintings made on a combination of thick paper, thin wood, and canvas. The absence of a unified backing or predetermined scale leads to compositions that activate the walls with rich spatial dynamics.
Dan Rizzie at Marcelle
A solo show of paintings by Dan Rizzie will open Saturday at the Peter Marcelle Project in Southampton with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. It will remain on view through May 31. Mr. Rizzie will attend the opening, which is also a celebration of “Dan Rizzie,” the first monograph on his work, just published by the University of Texas Press.
Mr. Rizzie, who has lived on North Haven since 1989, draws inspiration for his work from a variety of sources, including 20th-century modernism, the geometry of Cubism and Minimalism, 19th-century English botanical illustrations, and the floral and geometric forms of traditional Indian and Egyptian art.
Two From Southampton
The Southampton Historical Museum will open two long-running art exhibitions tomorrow with a reception from 4 to 6 p.m. Both “Into the Deep,” a show of paintings by Paton Miller, and “Views of Southampton,” paintings by Pat Garrity, will be up through Oct. 17.
After traveling the world from his home in Hawaii, Mr. Miller washed up on the shores of the East End in 1974 and now divides his time between Southampton and Costa Rica. His art reflects the range of his travels and experiences, filtered through an observant and expressive sensibility.
Ms. Garrity’s oil paintings incorporate the beauty and light of eastern Long Island. Also a Southampton resident, she captures the landscapes and architecture of the region and their transformation through the four seasons.
Art Fairs Draw Local Galleries
A number of East End galleries will participate in several of the many art fairs taking place in New York City from today through Sunday. Birnam Wood Gallery of East Hampton and Mark Borghi Fine Art of Bridgehampton will have booths at Art Miami New York on Pier 94.
Three East Hampton galleries —Halsey Mckay, Eric Firestone, and East Hampton Shed — will be present at the Nada Art Fair, which will be held at 299 South Street. Sara Nightingale will relocate for the long weekend to the Select Art Fair in the former Dia Foundation building on West 22nd Street.
Clifford Ross
“The Abstract Edge: Photographs, 1996-2001,” a solo exhibition of work by Clifford Ross, will open today at Ryan Lee Gallery in Chelsea with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. and run through June 27. The show will feature two related series, “Waves” and “Grain,” in which the artist began to push photography from an image-centric medium to one that can reconcile abstraction and experience.
A busy man, Mr. Ross will be in North Adams, Mass., next weekend for the opening of “Landscape Seen and Imagined,” a major midcareer survey at MASS MoCA, on May 23 from 5 to 6:30 p.m.
The exhibition will be held in two buildings, six galleries, and an exterior courtyard. Two of the featured works will be a 24-by-114-foot photograph on raw wood that spans the museum’s tallest gallery and an immersive installation of animated video on 12 screens, each 24 feet tall.
The main room will be open through February 2016, the Hurricane Room and Wave Cathedral through Sept. 8.
Pritam & Eames in Maine
Pritam & Eames, which closed its Race Lane gallery in East Hampton last fall after 33 years, will open tomorrow at the Gallery at Somes Sound in Somesville, Me., on Mount Desert Island. As it did in its previous incarnation, the gallery will showcase studio furniture by 25 artists as well as painting, lighting, ceramics, jewelry, glass art, and metalwork.
Five at Ashawagh
“The Hampton Project,” a show of local artists whose work is inspired by the region’s landscape, life, and light, will be on view at Ashawagh Hall in Springs on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 10 to 5. A reception will be held Saturday from 4 to 7.
Richard Mothes, Jane Cerami, Christina Joy Friscia, Jennifer Satinsky, and Brian Monahan are the participating artists.
Art at c/o the Maidstone
The annual art exhibit at c/o the Maidstone in East Hampton will open with a reception Saturday from 5 to 6:30 p.m. This year’s show will feature pieces from the collection of Jenny Ljungberg, owner and creative director of the inn, which includes work by Jacob Fellander, David Lynch, and Sam Taylor-Johnson. The exhibition will remain on view through December.
Ellen Watson at GeekHampton
GeekHampton, the Apple computer specialist in Sag Harbor, is presenting photographs by Ellen Watson through May 30, with a reception set for tomorrow from 6 to 8 p.m. Ms. Watson’s photographs are inspired by vintage postcards but use 21st-century technology. Many of the photographs feature local farms, a reflection of her interest in the farm-to-table movement.
Beer for Bluedorn
Scott Bluedorn’s designs and sketches for two Greenport Harbor Brewing Company labels will be on view in “Message on a Bottle,” an exhibition at the brewery’s Carpenter Street location in Greenport. Mr. Bluedorn lives in East Hampton.
The show will open Saturday from 6 to 9 p.m. and will remain on view through July 20.