The Art Scene: 05.22.14
Dazed and Confused
The Eric Firestone Gallery in East Hampton will open the summer season on Saturday with “Dazed and Confused,” a group show of contemporary art, which will remain on view through June 15.
According to the gallery, the work in the show reflects “aesthetic emotion,” which the art critic Roger Fry characterized in 1920 as a positive, pleasurable response to an object.
Works by Grant Barnhardt, Bhakti Baxter, Kelsey Brookes, James Clar, Evie Falci, Ted Gahl, Field Kallop, Andrew Kuo, Pryce Lee, Brian Porray, Jaime Scholnick, Jen Stark, and Ryan Wallace will be exhibited.
The opening reception will take place Saturday from 6 to 9 p.m.
Toni Ross and Jean Pagliuso
The Drawing Room in East Hampton will open its 2014 season tomorrow with an installation that juxtaposes hand-built stoneware by Toni Ross and silver gelatin photographs by Jean Pagliuso.
The two first exhibited together at the Drawing Room in 2009, after which, having established a friendship, they traveled together to Egypt and subsequently to Burma.
According to the gallery, photographs from Ms. Pagliuso’s “Fragile Remains” series and Ms. Ross’s new clay pieces reflect “the distinct path each has taken to articulate the enduring resonance of the past.”
Ms. Pagliuso’s images, printed in her darkroom on translucent paper brushed with silver emulsion, capture the grandeur and fragility of ancient sites. Ms. Ross’s experiences in Egypt and Burma informed her investigation into the meaning and function of ceremonial vessels.
The exhibition will be on view through June 23.
New at Vered
“Down to Earth,” an exhibition of photographs by Lili Almog, will open Saturday at Vered Gallery in East Hampton and remain on view through June 16. The show will include Ms. Almog’s newest photographs, which feature landscapes utilizing satellite imagery, embellished with her own drawings.
Ms. Almog moved from Israel to New York about 20 years ago and embarked on a career as a photojournalist, focusing on portraiture and fashion. After earning a degree from the School of Visual Arts in 1992, she turned to fine art photography, specifically photographic representations of the female body and psyche.
Her new work reflects her interest in landscape and how it integrates with leisure activities and suburban life. “I became obsessed with the shapes and forms of fields: golf courses, baseball fields, oil fields . . . all manner of spaces, some organized, some less so,” she has said. “The enormity of the sights necessitated that I investigate the selected locations through satellite maps.”
An opening reception will be held Saturday evening from 9 to 11.
Leiber Collection
The first joint exhibition of work by Gerson and Judith Leiber will open at the Leiber Collection in Springs on Saturday and remain on view through Labor Day.
Judith Leiber has designed handbags for Oscar, Emmy, and Grammy nominees, and for a succession of first ladies. Eighty of her creations are in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Gerson Leiber’s paintings, drawings, etchings, and lithographs are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, among many others.
This exhibition represents a culmination of the accomplishments of the Leibers, who are in their 90s and have been married for 68 years. Although they have worked in very different mediums, they share a fascination with color, composition, and texture, and a passion for being productive.
The Leiber Collection is located at 446 Old Stone Highway among seven acres of themed gardens, each designed by Mr. Leiber. The museum and gardens are open every Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday from 1 to 4 p.m.
Gordon Stevenson at Tripoli
“I Remember It Differently,” an exhibition of new paintings by Gordon Stevenson, will open at Tripoli Gallery in Southampton Saturday and remain on view through June 16. An opening reception will be held Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m.
Mr. Stevenson, who has spent time in Southampton since childhood, is known for his hand-painted signs of catch phrases, produced under the alias Baron Von Fancy. The texts, painted in a 1950s style, range from the cryptic to the tongue-in-cheek to the lascivious.
The new paintings utilize figures from well-known cartoons, from Archie to Disney classics, reflecting the artist’s sensibility – think, for example, of a union between Paul McCarthy and Ed Ruscha, who is one of Mr. Stevenson’s idols.
Whale of a Show
The Sag Harbor Whaling and Historical Museum will open for the summer tomorrow with a “Whale of a Show,” an exhibition of work by local artists organized by Dan Rizzie and Peter Marcelle.
On view through June 18, the show includes work by Ann De Mauro, April Gornik, David Slater, Dan Rizzie, Donald Sultan, Eric Dever, Eric Fischl, Gahan Wilson, Jamey Davis, Jim McMullan, Jill Musnicki, John Torreano, Nathan Slate Joseph, Paul David, Reynold Ruffins, and Susan Lazarus.
Two parties will punctuate the weekend. An opening reception for the exhibition, with live music by Jake Lear, will take place tomorrow from 6 to 8 p.m. On Sunday, from 5 to 8 p.m., “A Whale of a Party!” will feature brick-oven pizzas from the Rolling in Dough food truck, music by D.J. Mister Lama, beer from Montauk Brewing, wine from Channing Daughters, and ice cream and iced coffee from Sylvester & Co.
Tickets to Sunday’s party range in price from $25 for children 16 and under up to $350 for sponsors, with single adult tickets priced at $75. All proceeds will go toward the museum’s restoration.
Slavin at Guild Hall
“Intersections,” an exhibition of paintings and outdoor sculptures by Arlene Slavin, will open Monday at Guild Hall and remain on view through Oct. 13.
The new series of paintings refers back to work Ms. Slavin exhibited in the mid-’70s. Like the early pieces, these paintings are pencil grid-based, with layers of lush transparent stained colors. The X provides a recognizable entrance into this abstract world, as the eye scans and jumps from color to color, slowly entering into the depth of the painting.
Ms. Slavin, who lives in New York City and Wainscott, earned a B.F.A. from Cooper Union and an M.F.A. from Pratt Institute. Her work has been shown at galleries and museums throughout the United States and abroad and is included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the National Collection of Fine Arts, and the Portland Art Museum, among others.
Photos From Sweden
Josefin Hardinger, an artist from Sweden, is having her first exhibition in the United States at c/o the Maidstone inn in East Hampton. The exhibit will remain on view through 2014.
“I came across one of Josefin’s photos and instantly loved it,” said Jenny Ljungberg, owner of c/o Hotels. “I love the way she challenges the concept that photo art should mirror reality. Her images are real in a twisted way, which makes them so interesting.”
Ms. Hardinger uses both herself and people she knows as models. Post-production is a big part of her practice, as she spends hours reworking every photograph. The resulting portraits are often subtly but disturbingly distorted, verging on the surreal.
Outdoor Art in Montauk
The Montauk Artists Association will hold its annual Memorial Day weekend art exhibition on the Montauk green tomorrow through Sunday. The exhibition brings together, in an “outdoor gallery,” artists from around the country and abroad. Paintings, sculpture, mixed media, photographs, fabric art, jewelry, and glass pieces will be on display, and the artists will be on hand to discuss their work.
Exhibition hours are noon to 6 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Admission is free.
S.I.S. Members Show
The Springs Improvement Society will hold its 30th annual members show tomorrow through Monday at Ashawagh Hall in Springs. An opening reception will take place tomorrow from 5 to 8 p.m. Admission is $5, and wine and hors d’oeuvres will be served. All proceeds will go toward the maintenance of Ashawagh Hall.
A memorial gathering for Eleanor Leaver, a Springs illustrator and artist who died in February at the age of 93, will be held at Ashawagh Hall on Sunday from 5 to 7 p.m.
At Pollock-Krasner
In conjunction with its exhibition “Color and Time: Paintings by Roy Newell, 1956-2000,” the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in Springs will hold a reception and panel discussion Sunday from 5 to 7 p.m. The panel will consist of Robert E. Harrist Jr., who organized the exhibition, Richard Dupont, an artist, and Kent Minturn, an art historian.
During a long career, Roy Newell created a series of abstract paintings characterized by obsessive reworking. The Pollock-Krasner show includes 28 small oil paintings that are notable for their multilayered surfaces and luminous tonality.
The exhibition will be on view through July 26, after which it will travel to the Steinberg Museum of Art at Long Island University’s C.W. Post campus, where it will open in September.
Gornik Book Signing
A book signing will be held at Danese/Corey gallery in Chelsea next Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m. for April Gornik, on the occasion of the publication of “April Gornik: Drawings” by FigureGround Press. The book includes essays by Steve Martin and Archie Rand, an interview with the artist, who has a house on North Haven, conducted by Lawrence Weschler, and a composition for piano and cello by Bruce Wolosoff.
“April Gornik: Recent Paintings and Drawings,” the gallery’s current exhibition, will remain on view through May 31.
Plein Air Peconic
The Bridgehampton Museum will present an exhibition by members of Plein Air Peconic today through Sept. 18 at its archives building, 2539-A Montauk Highway. The exhibition features iconic Bridgehampton and Sagaponack settings.
Participating artists include Casey Chalem Anderson, Susan D’Alessio, Aubrey Grainger, Anita Kusick, Keith Mantell, Michele Margit, Gordon Matheson, Joanne Rosko, Tom Steele, and Kathryn Szoka. All works are for sale, with a percentage of the sales benefiting the Peconic Land Trust and the Bridgehampton Museum.
A reception will take place on June 14 from 5 to 7:30 p.m.
Southampton Artists
The Southampton Artists Association’s Memorial Day weekend exhibition is on view at the Levitas Center for the Arts in the Southampton Cultural Center through June 1. The show includes paintings, sculpture, photographs, and drawings by more than 40 local artists.
The association, which seeks to encourage the community of visual artists on the East End, holds four annual member exhibits and conducts classes, workshops, meetings, and other programs for members and interested community participants.
A reception will take place Sunday from 4 to 6 p.m.
New at Lawrence Fine Art
Lawrence Fine Art in East Hampton will inaugurate its summer season today with “Linescapes,” an exhibition of work by Carol Sears, an Australian-born artist now living in Los Angeles.
According to the gallery, “Ms. Sears’s work oscillates between compositional deliberation and what appears to be the happenstance accretion of strokes. Her work suggests that painting is most of all about possibility and evanescence.”
An opening reception will be held Saturday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The show will remain on view through June 26.