Late, Great, Sarcastic
"I call it sarcastic folk art,” the artist Charles Waller told The Star in a 2000 interview. The White Room Gallery in Bridgehampton will provide an opportunity for viewers to decide for themselves when it opens the first part of a yearlong retrospective of his work with a reception on Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m.
“Inside the Mind of the Late Great Charles Waller,” drawn from Geralyne Lewandowski’s extensive collection of his art, will feature work from his “Bridal Suite” series of large mixed-media collages.
Waller, who died in January 2021, said he took inspiration from antique objects or materials. “When a particular object inspires me, I create a theme and produce 20 or more pieces.”
All net proceeds from sales will be donated to charities, among them Wings Over Haiti, East End Hospice, and the Charles Waller Art Scholarship Fund. This exhibition will run through Feb. 27.
Mythic Monochromes
“John Gaspar, Monochromes: A Twenty-Year Overview” is on view at the Mark Borghi Gallery in Sag Harbor through March 3. Because of the minimal, often monochromatic nature of his paintings, Mr. Gaspar is often linked with Mark Rothko, although his use of shaped and sometimes irregular canvases, and the presence of subtle linear elements, differentiates him from the Abstract Expressionist.
The gallery says that the two artists share a view of painting as “a philosophical enterprise with an embodied ability to communicate spiritual truths.” Mr. Gaspar has characterized his work as “mythic. One might say that they’re cave paintings or shadows that are stories.”
Love and Abstraction
"The Language of Abstraction,” a virtual program from the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, begins with a tour of the artists’ studio, followed by a visit from Mike Solomon, a longtime East End resident, who will present his translucent paintings. It will happen via Zoom Thursday at 4 p.m.
The center will celebrate Valentine’s Day on Monday at 4 p.m. with “Art Lovers,” a virtual presentation by Joyce Raimondo about the joys and sorrows of love as expressed through the eyes of Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, and other artists. Viewers with paint or drawing supplies on hand will have the opportunity to express their own experience of love in an artwork.
Maritime Nostalgia
“Whimsical Waters,” new paintings from Adam Umbach’s ongoing maritime series, will open Friday with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. at Roman Fine Art’s new location, 26 Goodfriend Drive in East Hampton.
Mr. Umbach’s paintings explore nostalgia and childhood memories, combining photorealistic representations of everyday objects with expressionistic mark-making.
“Whimsical Waters” is inspired by the holiday boat trips of his childhood, with images of vessels docked in the calm, shallow waters of Long Island Sound. Bright colors and a sense of humor further counter feelings of isolation and unease so prevalent during the pandemic.
The exhibition will continue through March 13; the gallery is open by appointment only.
"Turbulence" in Chelsea
The painter Dan Christensen, who rose to prominence in the 1960s for his innovative use of the spray gun, is the subject of “The Harmonious Turbulence of the Universe,” an exhibition opening Thursday at the Berry Campbell Gallery in Chelsea.
The show focuses on Christensen's spray paintings from 1988 through 1994, which fall into three groups: spray portraits, and sprays with single or multiple spheres. The portraits consist of orbs surrounded by concentric circles cut off at the edges. The scale relates to the figurative art of his early career.
Single-spot sprays suggest the targets of Kenneth Noland or Jasper Johns, but animated by a blurring of the forms that suggest motion, while the spheres in the multi-spot canvases appear to undulate across the surfaces.
The show will run through March 12.
