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The Art Scene: 07.11.19

Tue, 07/09/2019 - 11:28

Kabakovs at Art Barge

The Artists Speak series at the Art Barge on Napeague will feature Emilia and Ilya Kabakov, noted pioneers of installation art, on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Together they have produced more than 200 immersive installations and other conceptual works that reflect on the human condition.

Emilia immigrated to the United States from the Soviet Union in 1973, Ilya 14 years later. The Kabakovs, who live on the North Fork, have collaborated since 1989 and were married in 1992. On Wednesday they will have two works on display: “How to Make Yourself Better” and a model of “Ship of Tolerance.” They will discuss these works and various other projects in addition to speaking about their individual and shared histories.
Tickets are $20 and available at theartbarge.org.

Historic Photos at Eastville

“Beacon of Light,” an exhibition of images drawn from the Johnson Family Collection of the Eastville Community Historical Society in Sag Harbor, is now on view at the center’s Heritage House. The photographs, which date from the late-19th and 20th centuries, portray children and families of the Eastville community.

“The Johnson Family Collection is a great example of counteractions to stereotypes of parenthood . . . these photographs declared black people’s worth, both as individuals and as a group, within a larger society that often forgets the contributions of the whole,” according to a press release.

Other events coming up at the Heritage House are an open mic night Friday from 6 to 8 and an afternoon of arts and crafts on Wednesday from 1 to 3.

Marcus Brutus at Harper’s

“Go to Work. Get Your Money and Come Home. You Don’t Live There,” a show of paintings by Marcus Brutus, will open at Harper’s Books in East Hampton with a reception on Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. and continue through Aug. 8.

The show brings together a selection of recent figurative paintings that depict scenes of contemporary life throughout the African diaspora, all rendered in broad patches of pigment with coarsely sketched contours. The subjects of Mr. Brutus’s portraits navigate assorted sites of employment, community, and leisure, from advertising agencies and tennis courts to churches and city streets.

New at Halsey McKay

A two-person show of sculptures by Bianca Beck and paintings by Susan Tepper is on view on the ground floor at Halsey McKay Gallery in East Hampton through July 29. New paintings by Timothy Bergstrom are on view in the upstairs gallery.

Ms. Beck is known for her larger than life biomorphic sculptures made from vividly colored papier-mâché hand-molded over wire mesh. Grotesque and angst-ridden, Ms. Tepper’s heads act as self-portraits reflecting the complexity of the human psyche. Mr. Bergstrom’s paintings depict figures brandishing gas masks, weapons, and armor, as if anxious to confront an unseen threat.

“Intervention” at Fireplace

“Intervention,” a show of work by Maynard Monrow and Material Lust, will open at the Fireplace Project in Springs with a reception Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. and remain on view through Aug. 4.

Mr. Monrow will present neon works and a new series of bronze wall pieces called “vital signs,” which are text-based artworks reflecting current trends of thought. The work of Material Lust, a partnership between Lauren Larson and Christian Swafford, honors “the dignity in the ominous, the grotesque, and the oft-forgotten,” according to a release.

Group Show at Ashawagh

Seven members of NextActArt, a group of female artists who met while taking a collage and mixed-media course, will show their work at Ashawagh Hall in Springs Friday through Wednesday. A reception will take place Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m.

The participating artists are Barbara Brier, Rena Diana, Madeline Farr, Madlyn Goldman, Ronnie Grill, Patricia Miller, and Sheila Wolper. Ten percent of sale proceeds will benefit the Peconic Land Trust’s Quail Hill Farm.

Two at Kathryn Markel

New work by Sarah Irvin and Marilla Palmer will be on view at Kathryn Markel Fine Arts in Bridgehampton from Friday through July 22. Ms. Irvin, using ink and a non-absorbent Yupo paper, writes words and phrases in expressive cursive, then destroys the words using squeegees, allowing the ink to slip and spread across the paper.

Ms. Palmer’s mixed-media works use dried foliage and scavenged detritus alongside synthetic materials to enrich paintings of branches and flowers.

Six Painters at Grenning

“Thick and Wet,” a group show of painters who accentuate the materiality of paint, will open at the Grenning Gallery in Sag Harbor with a reception Saturday from 6:30 to 8 p.m. and remain on view through July 28.

The show will feature work by Nelson H. White, whose paintings reflect an intimate view of nature; bright, textural canvases by Darius Yektai, and paintings by Beth Rundquist that borrow from the impressionist tradition. Work by the Russian painters Irina Rybakova and Daniil Volkov will also be on view, along with that of Emily Persson, an Australian painter new to the gallery.

Abstraction in Sag

“Abstract Thinking,” a group exhibition, will open at Ezra Gallery of the Hamptons in Sag Harbor with a reception Sunday from 4 to 6:30 p.m. and continue through Aug. 13.

Organized by Kimberly Goff of the former Elaine Benson Gallery, the show will include work from Benson’s collection as well as pieces by artists who exhibited at the influential Bridgehampton gallery, among them Hans Van de Bovenkamp, Tracy Harris, Carol Hunt, Nathan Slate Joseph, Elaine de Kooning, Zero Mostel, Alfonso Ossorio, Esteban Vicente, and Ms. Goff.

Focus on Color

“Adventure in Colors,” a show of work by Yvonne Claveloux, will be on view at the Monika Olko Gallery in Sag Harbor from Friday through July 27, with a reception set for Friday from 5 to 7 p.m.

Ms. Claveloux’s abstract mixed-media works on canvas, which combine acrylic, graphite, gesso, and watercolors, are characterized by bright colors, bold brushstrokes, messy drips and smudges, and organic shapes. Her work is inspired by her Cuban roots, her travels, and winters in Miami.

Ruth Nasca in Manhattan

A solo show of work by Ruth Nasca, a prolific painter who lived in East Hampton for 30 years until her death last year at the age of 89, will open at SK Art Enterprise in Manhattan with a reception Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. and continue through Sept. 12.

Ms. Nasca earned a B.F.A. at the State University at Buffalo and took classes with Willem de Kooning, Philip Guston, and Ben Shahn. “People are important to me,” she once wrote, and since 1990 she created paintings of nude models painted with oil pastels directly on movie posters. Her work has been included in more than 100 solo and group exhibitions.

Five Photographers

The Tulla Booth Gallery in Sag Harbor will present “Summer Pleasures” from Saturday through Aug. 1. A reception will be held Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. The show, which pays homage to water, includes work by Stephen Wilkes, Roberto Dutesco, Blair Seagram, Daniel Jones, and Ms. Booth.

Art in the Park

Paintings, drawings, photographs, and sculpture by members of the Southampton Artists Association will be on view in Agawam Park in Southampton on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.


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