The Art Scene: 08.16.12
Photo Masters at Harper’s
Harper’s Books in East Hampton will show work by Kazuo Kitai and John Gossage beginning Saturday and running through Oct. 1. The exhibitions will be accompanied by catalogs published through a new Harper’s Books imprint.
Mr. Kitai’s first book, “Resistance,” about Japanese protesters in the 1960s, may have been the impetus for the movement known as Provoke, founded by Takuma Nakahira and Daido Moriyama. His “Barricade” series focuses on another protest at a university he was teaching at and where he manned the barricade and photographed the protesters. These images, never before seen or published beyond Japanese periodicals, will be featured.
Mr. Gossage, who is an American, has a deep appreciation of Japanese photography. A collector of Japanese photo books, he designed the book of Mr. Kitai’s photographs. He will also show his own work inspired by a trip to Japan to meet with Mr. Kitai. A reception will be held on Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m.
Levitas at Valentine
Gallery Valentine in East Hampton is showing “Metalwork Photography Sculptures” by Andrew Levitas through Aug. 25. The medium is the artist’s own invention and “involves the transfer of photographs onto custom transparencies that are in turn melted onto hand-etched aluminum sheets,” according to the gallery. The photographic image then reflects back on itself. Its newest manifestation is in three-dimensional sculpture that is free-standing and on view in this show.
The images are mounted on double-sided panels that are welded together, making each photograph a giant piece within the construction. Imposing in size, they are still light in feeling because of their reflective and illuminative qualities. Mr. Levitas has shown his work at Guild Hall and in a number of gallery shows around the world. He is also a writer, director, and actor now working on his feature film “Lullaby,” starring Jennifer Hudson and Amy Adams.
Maccarone’s Holy Crap
The Fireplace Project in Springs will present “Holy Crap!” starting tomorrow. Michele Maccarone has organized the show, with the artists Nate Lowman, Rob Pruitt, Dan Colen, and Piotr Uklanski.
Trash, scrap, and detritus are the mediums. Mr. Lowman displays drop cloths, which become paintings in their own right as the collectors of drips and wipes of the brush. During the opening reception, Mr. Pruitt will sell his own belongings in one of the “flea market” installations he is known for, and he will also show a sculpture. Mr. Colen produces “trash paintings” from discarded objects. Mr. Uklanski’s contribution is unannounced, but in one previous installation he did a mosaic of porcelain tableware on the side of a building.
A reception will be held Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. The show will remain on view through Sept. 17.
Two Art Walks
Both East Hampton and Sag Harbor Villages will have self-guided art walks organized by Kathy Zieger on Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m. In East Hampton the participating galleries are Birnam Wood, Davenport and Shapiro Fine Arts, Halsey Mckay, Harper’s Books, Eric Firestone, Gallery Valentine, Linde Gallery, Sotheby’s International Realty, QF Gallery, Wallace Gallery of American Art, and Vered. The galleries are downtown — on Main Street, Newtown Lane, or Park Place.
A reception will be held at 5 p.m. at Vered, and those who wish to have a guided tour, led by Esperanza Leon, can register for it by e-mailing [email protected]. The artwalkhamptons Web site has information and maps for those who prefer to go it alone. A closing reception will be at the QF (or QuikFun) Gallery at 8 that night.
In Sag Harbor, the galleries are the Dodds and Eder Sculpture Garden, Monika Olka, Richard J. Demato Fine Arts, Romany Kramoris, Grenning, the Hooke Sculpture Gallery, and Tulla Booth. An opening reception will take place at the Grenning Gallery at 5 p.m. That gallery will have a demonstration by Chad Fisher, a sculptor, to coincide with the art walk and a closing reception for the “Best of the Best” show from 3:30 to 6 p.m. Mr. Fisher will sculpt a head from life.
Ms. Zieger will lead the guided tour in Sag Harbor, with registration at the e-mail address above. A closing reception for the art walk in that village will take place at Dodds and Eder at 8 p.m.
Gansett Art and Artists
Tomorrow, the Amagansett Historical Association will open “Amagansett Art: Across the Years.” The show looks at artists who have lived and worked in Amagansett or used it as subject matter, from early illustrators who made the hamlet their home in the 1930s and ’40s to the abstract painters of the ’50s to the artists still there today.
With work on display will be John Alexander, Priscilla Bowden, Ralph Carpentier, Elliott Erwitt, Robert Harms, Janet Jennings, Howard Kanovitz, Conrad Marca-Relli, Michelle Murphy, Costantino Nivola, Gosta Peterson, Ray Prohaska, Denise Regan, Ken Robbins, Saul Steinberg, Elizabeth Strong-Cuevas, Michelle Stuart, David Suter, and the illustrators McClelland Barclay and Gilbert Bundy.
Nina Gillman, Elena Prohaska Glinn, and Pamela Williams organized the show with the purpose of highlighting the hamlet’s role in the history of art on the South Fork. Of the works that are for sale, a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Amagansett Historical Association for upkeep and preservation of the buildings on its grounds — Miss Amelia’s Cottage, the Roy K. Lester Barn, and the Phebe Edwards Mulford House.
The show will be on view in the Jackson Carriage House on the association grounds at the corner of Main Street and Windmill Lane in Amagansett. Admission is free, but donations will be welcomed. The show will remain on view through Sept. 30, Wednesdays through Sundays from 2 to 6 p.m., with reduced hours after Labor Day.
Seating Arrangements
Mary Heilmann has brought together three other artists for a four-person show at Ille Fine Arts in Amagansett devoted to seating contraptions and chairs. The three are Don Christensen, Daniel Wiener, and Kurt Gumaer, all of whom are associated with the East End and have exhibited widely.
Ms. Heilmann is a painter. Mr. Gumaer is an artist and designer who makes functional forms out of rock, concrete, wood, and recycled material. Mr. Wiener’s sculptures alternate between looking like organic and man-made forms with a function. Mr. Christensen paints on wood, makes compositions from lengths of painted wood, and constructs sculptures from accumulations of wooden stools, tables, and other small pieces. The show will remain on view through Sept. 11.
Juried Show in Montauk
The 18th annual Montauk Juried Fine Art Show on that hamlet’s green will take place this weekend, beginning tomorrow from noon to 6 p.m. Some 80 artists have been selected, in mediums such as painting, sculpture, fabric, jewelry, photography, and prints.
Participating artists will be on hand to discuss their work, much of which has been shown in galleries and museums across the country. The free show, which will continue on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., has been organized by the Montauk Artists Association.
Hope and Musnicki
The Parrish Road Show continues this weekend as Alice Hope’s installation at Camp Hero in Montauk remains on view through Aug. 31 and Jill Musnicki opens and closes a show at the Bridgehampton Historical Society. Ms. Musnicki’s project, called “what comes around,” will open tomorrow in the engine barn on the grounds of the Corwith House with a reception from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. It will remain on view Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Ms. Musnicki’s installation is an amalgamation of surveillance camera footage of humans and wildlife in various untouched landscapes across the South Fork. Most of the images will be displayed as projections moving through a loop on a wall, but there will be a selection of prints as well. The footage reveals some startling surprises about what happens in the South Fork wilderness when no one is around to see it.
Ms. Musnicki is a fourth-generation Bridgehampton and Sagaponack resident whose family immigrated from Poland in the early 20th century and established several potato farms. She studied at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and takes inspiration from her relationship with the agrarian landscape.
Ms. Hope’s “Under the Radar” is an installation of ferrite magnets, thousands of them, on a strip next to Camp Hero’s decommissioned radar tower. Using magnets as a medium for several years now, she chose the site for its electromagnetic history as well as its appeal to conspiracy theorists.
Clay Art Invitational
The Celedon Clay Art Gallery in Water Mill has an Invitational Members Show beginning tomorrow and on view through Sept. 9. The three artists featured are Eve Behar, Shelley Marcus Sonenberg, and Carey Lowell. An opening reception will be held on Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m.
Ms. Behar studied ceramics in Manhattan, Italy, and Canada and returned to New York in 2004. Selected to participate in many shows, she has been featured on the Ceramics Monthly Web site.
Ms. Sonenberg has worked in a variety of mediums — photography, painting, sculpture, and architecture. She has been working in clay for three years, using both the wheel and a more free-form sculptural process.
Ms. Lowell was born in Huntington and is perhaps best known for her modeling and acting careers, working for Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein and with roles in films such as “License to Kill” and “Sleepless in Seattle” as well as a regular role on the television show “Law & Order.” As a ceramicist, she prefers to hand-build her compositions in porcelain.
Shelter Island’s Open Studios
Shelter Island artists will open their studios for “Art on Shelter Island,” known familiarly as “ARTSI,” on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The free event allows public interaction with 17 working artists, including painters, photographers, printmakers, digital artists, and sculptors. There will be artwork for sale and the chance to commission work.
Participating artists include Roz Dimon, Katherine Hammond, Bob Markell, Kia Pederson, Mike Zisser, Jackie Black, Karen Kiaer, Victor Friedman, Janet Culbertson, Olive Reich, Diana Malcolmson, Peter Waldner, Billy Martin, Sylvia Hewlett, Linda Puls, June Shatken, and Randy Osofsky. A map, preview images, and other information can be found online at artsi.info.
Seashells by the Seashore
East Hampton’s QF Gallery will present “She Sells Seashells by the Seashore,” organized by Kinz + Tillou Fine Art. Among the featured artists are Kim Keever, Spencer Tunick, Edwina White, Megan Greene, Joni Sternbach, Javier Pinon, John Spinks, Elizabeth Insogna, Mara Hoffman, Rene Riccardo, Morissa Geller, Ayca Koseogullari, Alan Steele, and Mia Berg.
In addition to the contemporary artwork, also on display will be 19th-century paintings, antique and folk collectibles, jewelry, and the seashells of the show’s title.
Montauk Monster Returns
Neoteric Fine Art in Amagansett will display the remains of the Montauk Monster at its opening of “Hybridized,” a group show of young artists who work in unconventional mediums and fashion transitional or transformational forms, tomorrow from 5 to 9 p.m.
The artists are Cory Barber, Sara Berks, Scott Bluedorn, Angelo Hatgistavrou, Margaret Farmer, Christian Little, Diana Lives, Aimee Lusty, Scott Meyers, Kenneth Murphy, Jenna Nelson, and Yaan Pessino. The reception will also have a poetry reading by Malik Solomon and music by Jody Gambino. The show will be on view through Aug. 31.
Art at Beach House
The Montauk Beach House is launching a series called Downtown Art, featuring East End artists, beginning Saturday with a reception at 1 p.m. On display will be sculptures by Michael Chiarello and silk-screened works by Daniel Dens. The owners said they hoped that as more people become aware of the possibilities of using the hotel’s space, artists would approach them about showing their work there.
Mr. Chiarello and Mr. Dens will have their pieces mounted in cases on the property facing the Plaza and in the hotel lobby. They will be on view through Sept. 16.