The Art Scene: 06.01.17
New Season at Firestone
Fittingly, the Eric Firestone Gallery in East Hampton has titled the first show of its new season “Season Opener.” The group exhibition of nine artists reflects the gallery’s commitment to creating a dialogue between historic and contemporary art.
The exhibition, which will run through June 18, includes previously unseen works by the pioneering feminist artist Miriam Schapiro and the noted photorealist Howard Kanovitz. New sculpture by Mia Fonssagrives Solow and important works from the estate of Sydney Butchkes are also on view.
Artists new to the gallery are Michael Boyd, whose atmospheric paintings are also on view in a solo show at the gallery’s New York City loft, and Ted Kurahara, whose minimalist monochromes influenced younger artists, including Mr. Boyd.
The New York School artist Kyle Morris’s paintings reflect his connection to his fellow Abstract Expressionists during the 1950s. Tony Robbin is a founding member of the Pattern and Decoration movement of the 1970s. Jorge Fick was a master of color and composition.
East End Photographers
The East End Photographers Group will take over Ashawagh Hall in Springs for a nine-day exhibition from Saturday through June 11. An opening reception with music by Job Potter and Friends will take place Saturday from 5 to 9 p.m. The show, organized by Marilyn Stevenson, will include traditional, digital, and alternative photographic processes.
Participating photographers are Virginia Aschmoneit, Marilyn DiCarlo-Ames, Zintis Buzermanis, Ann Brandeis, Paul Dempsey, Rich Faron, Ray Germann, Gerry Giliberti, Janet Glazer, Pamela Greinke, Virginia Khuri, Richard Law, Joel Lefkowitz, George Mallis, Joanna McCarthy, Berton Miller, Jim Sabiston, Joan Santos, Rosa Hanna Scott, Jim Slezak, Marilyn Stevenson, Nick Tarr, Mark Testa, and Alex Vignoli.
The gallery will be open from noon to 5 p.m. on weekends and 1 to 5 on weekdays. A closing reception is set for June 11 from 3 to 5 p.m.
Cloud/Surf Photographs
An exhibition of work by Jonathan Clancy, an East Coast surf photographer, is on view at Grain Surfboards NY Gallery in Amagansett through June 20.
The show features 17 images from Mr. Clancy’s “Cloudbreak” series, a collection of abstract cloud/surf photographs captured over the past winter that portray reflections of oceanic themes in the sky.
Mr. Clancy, who lives in Rhode Island, was raking leaves one autumn day when he noticed the light reflecting off the clouds. “There was this cloud that looked like a massive wave detonating over a reef. . . . The image stirred my imagination and I was curious to see how far I could take the concept of finding surf in the sky,” he wrote in material accompanying the exhibit.
Art for Conservation
The Nature Conservancy is launching its summer season with “Sacred Balance,” an art exhibition organized by Beth McNeill-Muhs, an independent curator, that will open with a reception June 3 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Center for Conservation in East Hampton. The show will run through July 14.
The featured artists are John Alexander, Scott Bluedorn, Bobbie Braun, Tapp Francke, April Gornik, Kara Hoblin, Cynthia Knott, Jerome Lucani, Jeff Muhs, and Cindy Pease Roe. Twenty percent of sales will support the conservancy’s work for clean water on Long Island.
The exhibition will be open weekdays from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Pop Updated
“NeoPop Squared,” a group exhibition organized by the White Room Gallery in Bridgehampton and Karyn Mannix Contemporary, will open at the gallery on Saturday with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. and continue through June 18.
According to a press release, “ ‘NeoPop Squared’ artists adapt from [Pop Art’s] forefathers, bringing in a variety of techniques, recognizable objects, and celebrities from popular culture with icons and symbols of the present times.”
The artists selected by Ms. Mannix are Angela China, John Stango, and Sean Sullivan. Derrick Hickman, Jason Poremba, and Laura Benjamin will represent the White Room.
Christine Sciulli in Manhattan
Christine Sciulli, a visual artist known for her installations that explore the perception and properties of light, is exhibiting a new work, “Gesture,” at the Shirley Fiterman Art Center in Lower Manhattan as part of “Text/ure,” a group exhibition on view through Sept. 9 devoted to artists whose work celebrates texture and material.
“Gesture” is a wall installation 30 feet long and 12 feet high that uses carved clear packing tape to explore, in the artist’s words, “the confluence of reflectivity and light.” Drawn from aerial photographs of rivers and roadways, the tape creates pathways of reflection from ambient light sources within the gallery and outside its windows.