Close, Gornik, Fischl in Profile
Last summer, Sophie Chahinian successfully launched a Kickstarter campaign, ultimately raising $25,000 to help fund the Artist Profile Archive. It’s a website that houses short-form videos of contemporary artists discussing their own work.
Three of Ms. Chahinian’s videos are now on display at Guild Hall as part of its current exhibition of new additions to the permanent collection. A gallery talk and guided tour, led by with Christina Strassfield, Guild Hall’s chief curator, will take place on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.
As part of the exhibit, video profiles of Chuck Close, April Gornik, and Eric Fischl play on a continuous loop, each running between six and eight minutes. An additional profile of Joel Shapiro, whose work is also on display, is forthcoming. The exhibit runs through Jan. 4.
Ms. Chahinian wears many hats. In addition to working as a real estate agent in the East Hampton office of Douglas Elliman (a sponsor of the video exhibit), she recently served as interim associate curator at Guild Hall, filling in for an employee out on maternity leave.
“This is the thing I love to do,” she said of the video profiles, which she films and edits with a team of freelance filmmakers. “It’s my purpose.” Fund-raising, though, remains a perpetual challenge. She said the Kickstarter campaign was “too nail-biting” to undertake again.
The exhibition’s inclusion of works by Mr. Fischl (an oil on linen portrait), two recently acquired pieces by Mr. Close (including a self-portrait made of polished stainless steel and paper), and an oil-on-linen seascape by Ms. Gornik, was fortuitous, affording a perfect venue for Ms. Chahinian’s videos. Taken together, the profiles add a rich layer of context, providing not only biographical tidbits of each artist but insights into their individual techniques and creative processes.
Ms. Chahinian is constantly in search of new sponsors willing to underwrite production costs. Each video costs around $5,000 to make. LTV, where the videos have also been aired and where tax-deductible contributions can be made, is the Artist Profile Archive’s nonprofit sponsor.