Two Solos at Harper’s
Harper’s Gallery in East Hampton will open two solo exhibitions with a reception on Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m.
“drenched by a summer downpour, softened by a spring rain” features new paintings by Shara Mays, whose artistic practice is grounded in the complex histories of the American landscape for Black communities. Her visual language is gesturally intuitive, with orbiting marks capturing the essence of nature.
Eric Stefanski writes every day, converting the realities of being an artist into long-form text. He then pares down those reflections into striking phrases that describe affects ranging from the harrowing to the humorous and transfers them onto canvas. One, “I’m a Genius, I’m a Fraud,” is the title of his show.
The exhibitions will continue through July 24.
Avram Gallery Reopens
The Avram Gallery at Stony Brook Southampton College has reopened after a two-year hiatus with “Lovefeast,” an exhibition by Ghislaine and Lando Fremaux-Valdez, the first of a four-part contemporary art series produced for the gallery by the Springs-based Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center.
“The Avram Gallery provides us with a great space to showcase exciting early and mid-career artists,” says Matthew Ward, director of the Pollock-Krasner House. “By activating the gallery and bringing these artists to the Southampton community, I feel that we can invigorate the campus.”
“Lovefeast” features large-scale pastel and mixed-media works by the couple, who are based in Lubbock, Tex. A series of self-portraits, they are informed by medicine, religious mythology, and the artists’ relationship as collaborators and spouses.
Under the Sea
Next up at the Lucore Art Gallery in Montauk is “Under the Sea/By the Water,” which opens today and will continue through July 16. Each of the 11 participating artists tackles nautical themes, but in different, innovative ways.
Sharks appear in works by Brianna D’Amato and Dalton Portella, octopuses in pieces by Bruce Lieberman, Anna Chan, and Izlin Weinberg, while Peter Spacek creates mixed-media works of ocean life from recycled surfboards.
The show also includes work by Alicia Suarez, Gianna D’Agostino, John Tuttle, Lindsay Bardwell, and Penelope El-Dalati.
A reception will take place Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m.
Next at Ashawagh
“Six in the Mix,” a show of work by six artists who work in a variety styles, will open tomorrow at Ashawagh Hall in Springs and continue through Sunday. A reception will take place tomorrow from 5 to 7 p.m.
The participating artists are Kirsten Benfield, Michele Berman, Grace Chun, Jonathan Lopatin, Dorothy Kopelman, and Susan Friend, who organized the exhibition.
Power and Entrapment
“Beyond Your Glittering Eyes,” a show of mixed-media paintings by Ellen Ball, opens today at the J. Mackey Gallery in East Hampton and will run through Aug. 3. A reception is set for Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m.
Ms. Ball’s work explores the tension between women’s empowerment and entrapment by beauty standards and conventional expectations. She works with found imagery that she reinterprets by layering paint, papers, textiles, and unexpected mediums to create new compositions.
Her work has been influenced by such contemporary artists as Marilyn Minter, Mickalene Thomas, Christopher Wool, and Elizabeth Payton, with echoes of Matisse, Warhol, and Botticelli, says the gallery.
Six at Keyes
Keyes Art in Sag Harbor will open “Flock of Genius,” an exhibition of work by Rainer Andreesen, Cornelia Foss, ROZEAL, Tammy Smith, Warren McHugh, and Edith Vonnegut, with a reception Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m. It will remain on view through July 12.
Ms. Vonnegut has said her aim is to “rewrite the history of women, as I think we have been portrayed incorrectly from Eve on.” ROZEAL’s paintings and collages bring together Asian and African-American aesthetic traditions. Ms. Smith is known for her evocative and whimsical creations inspired by animals.
McHugh, who died in 1986, was a folk artist whose carved wooden figures included members of his Sag Harbor community. Ms. Foss is a painterly realist who paints the beaches and landscapes of the East End, while Mr. Andreesen is known for his often intense, expressive portraits.
Plein-Air Painting Talk
Barbara Thomas, a Springs artist who has conducted plein-air painting workshops all over the South Fork, will be at Third House Nature Center in Montauk on Sunday at 5 p.m. for a free slide and lecture presentation on the East End’s history of painting in the open air.
Ms. Thomas will discuss key artists in the movement, including William Merritt Chase and Thomas Moran, as well as landscape and how it relates to painting. At the end of the slide lecture she will give a painting demonstration.
A question-and-answer session will follow, and refreshments will be served.
Open Studio in Sag
The next Late Night Open Studio at The Church in Sag Harbor will take place on Saturday from 6 to 9. Artists of all mediums can join, socialize, and work on any projects, past or present.
The Church is offering only the studio space; participants are responsible for providing their own supplies, including easels, and for cleaning up their work areas. All ages will be welcomed.
Because there is limited capacity, the program operates on a first-come-first-served basis, and only those who register or buy a ticket through the venue’s website will be guaranteed a spot in the studio. The cost is $10, free for members, who are required to R.S.V.P.
Graffiti on Film
In conjunction with its current show, “Beyond the Streets: Post Graffiti,” the Southampton Arts Center will screen “Rolling Like Thunder,” a film directed by Roger Gastman, the exhibition’s curator, on Sunday at 3 p.m.
Before street art became mainstream, anonymous “freight writing” outlaws put graffiti on the map. The film delves into the underground subculture to reveal the deep connection between graffiti and the American landscape, as well as the artists’ willingness to put their lives on the line in order to be heard.
Tickets are $10, free for members.
New Installation at Dia
“Liliana Porter: The Task,” a multifaceted exhibition of works by the Argentine-born artist, is at Dia Bridgehampton through May 26, 2025. A prominent figure in the early Conceptual and feminist art movements, Ms. Porter engages with the subject of time, which she perceives as nonlinear and dislocated in her early prints and photographs. Her later images and installations incorporate found objects and collected figurines, and most recently she has turned to films and plays.
Commissioned by Dia, “The Task” (2024) is a landscape of “situations” set across three wood plinths, bringing together characters from various realities and time periods. It also incorporates decommissioned Dan Flavin lightbulbs and a thread of tulle, the color of one of his signature fluorescent light works in his permanent installation at Dia Bridgehampton.
