The celebrations of 125 years of the Parrish Art Museum continue with a new iteration of "Artists Choose Parrish," a three-part exhibition pairing contemporary artists with works from the museum's permanent collection.
Part II, which opens on Sunday in Water Mill, will feature the selections of Marina Adams, Alice Aycock, Vija Celmins, Rachel Feinstein, Ralph Gibson, Sheree Hovsepian, Suzanne McClelland, Alix Pearlstein, Ned Smyth, Donald Sultan, John Torreano, and Stanley Whitney shown with their own artwork.
In making their selections, the artists considered the relevance of the East End to how they work and how the artists in the collection were also affected by their surroundings and the area's artistic community.
"Many of the artists in this iteration were looking for connections in process and material," according to the museum, choosing to pair themselves with "works where they detected opposites but also similarities to their own works. Several explored art historical references, cultural symbolism, power dynamics, and social constructs."
Some highlights are the pairing of a work by Ms. Adams with Willem de Kooning's "Untitled XXXVIII," from 1983, based on her personal story of coming to New York in the early 1980s and seeing de Kooning's paintings from that period soon after her arrival.
In another personal association, Ms. Aycock chose Dennis Oppenheim's photo documentation of the earthwork "Polarities," which was based on his daughter's first drawing and a gesture of his father's as he lay dying. She was married to Oppenheim in the 1980s. Her piece, "Dance Me to the End of Love (Leonard Cohen)," from 2022, is a virtual earthwork based on contra dance diagrams.
Ms. Feinstein, who has had a long engagement with universal symbols and religion, has chosen Audrey Flack's 1972 "Lady Madonna" as her pairing. Ms. Feinstein's 2001 sculpture "See You Soon," which is also in the Parrish collection, was based on an 18th-century German ceramic statue in which the religious figures -- Christ, Mary, and the saints -- are replaced by symbols.
Mr. Whitney has chosen his oil painting "Where Love Can Stay" to play along with Philip Guston's 1970 "The Street" and Romare Bearden's 1974 "Before the First Whistle." Mr. Whitney met Guston during his days in the Skidmore College studio art program, and the older artist convinced him to move to New York City.
As for Bearden, Mr. Whitney called the Parrish work one of the best he'd seen "in a long time. I was struck by the color. It's a beautiful, powerful piece."
Mr. Sultan selected a number of works to reflect on and have a dialogue with his sculptures "Lead Lemon March 25 1985," "Lead Teacup With Tar February 10 1989," "Lemons July 15 1987," and "Oranges in a Pot April 5 1993." In the Parrish's collection he found abstract works carrying messages or ideological statements by artists such as Charles Burchfield, Valerie Jaudon, Roy Lichtenstein, Donald Lipski, and Keith Sonnier.
"I have known these artists' works for many years," he said. "I was thrilled to be able to have their voices heard again."
There will be an opening reception for members on Saturday from 5 to 7:30 p.m., with a talk by Ms. Adams, Ms. McClelland, and Mr. Gibson at 6. An additional artist talk is planned for Sept. 3. The show will continue through Feb. 4.
Part III will open on Oct. 29, featuring artists such as Virginia Jaramillo, Rashid Johnson, David Salle, and Sean Scully.
