Skip to main content

Jack Douglas: Talent, Egos, and Rock’s Holy Grail

Jack Douglas: Talent, Egos, and Rock’s Holy Grail

As a music producer and musician, Jack Douglas has worked with the Isley Brothers, John Lennon, Aerosmith, the Who, Patti Smith, the Yardbirds, and the New York Dolls, among others.
As a music producer and musician, Jack Douglas has worked with the Isley Brothers, John Lennon, Aerosmith, the Who, Patti Smith, the Yardbirds, and the New York Dolls, among others.
“You’re facilitating a dream."
By
Christopher Walsh

Sitting at Gosman’s Topside restaurant, overlooking Montauk Harbor on a perfect September afternoon, the stories flowed from Jack Douglas like the tide, epic tales of musical genius, and sometimes madness. Between a plate of clams on the half shell, the music producer best known for long and close associations with John Lennon and Aerosmith recalled a lifetime of creation, onstage and, especially, in the studio.

“You’re facilitating a dream,” Mr. Douglas said of his work. “You may have to write, you may have to rewrite, you have to arrange most of the time. You’re dealing with tremendous egos, some problem children, some people that are just blessed with talent, and a lot of other things.”

A Bronx native and veteran of New York City’s legendary Record Plant Studios, Mr. Douglas, who lives in Nyack and Los Angeles, has vacationed in Montauk for more than 40 years. “In fact, I played in a band early in the ’60s, and the organ player’s family had a fish market in New Jersey,” he said. “They used to come out here to buy their fish. I accompanied them on a trip — this was a quite different place.”

“I used to come earlier in the season,” he said, “but this place has gotten a little crazy, so for the last few years I come in September, when it’s over.”

“A little crazy” could define Mr. Douglas’s career. In November 1965, he and Edward Leonetti, a fellow musician, obsessed with the Beatles’ inimitable sound, set out for its source: Liverpool, England. “The cheapest way was by tramp steamer,” he said. “People would say to me, ‘You’re crossing the North Atlantic in late November?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, so what? I’ve been on the Staten Island ferry.’ ”

 The “rusty old tin can” pulled into ports like Boston, St. John’s, Halifax, Iceland, Norway, Aberdeen, “wherever there was something for it to take from one place to another.” He and Mr. Leonetti were the sole passengers. “The rest was a crew of pirates that were drunk most of the time. It was like, ‘Who’s in charge here?’ It was a harrowing trip.”

Three weeks later in Liverpool, armed with guitars and amplifiers but no return tickets, visas, or work permits, the would-be pop stars were detained on the vessel by immigration officials. “I told my friend, ‘I got you into this mess, I’ll get you out of it,’ ” he said. “I think that’s been the story of my life.” Donning a sort of disguise, Mr. Douglas snuck off the ship, found a record shop, and bought the Beatles’ just-released “Rubber Soul” album.

“I saw the Liverpool Echo, the biggest newspaper in Liverpool, and thought, these English journalists like sensational stuff,” he recalled. “I’ll tell them this story about being held captive on a ship.” His tale piqued the interest of an editor, who arranged media coverage that ultimately reached London, the center of the pop-music universe.

Embarrassed immigration officials relented, granting them student visas, and the Echo editor put them in a band. “It was going to be his continuing coverage of the Yanks in Liverpool,” he said. “It was amazing. We saw lots of incredible bands, bought records, sent press back to New York.” Until Her Majesty had had enough, that is. Without warning, the now-famous “crazy Yanks” were handcuffed, thrown into a car, onto a train, and then a ship bound for the United States. “Because we had been to Liverpool and sent back all this stuff about what stars we were, we got into really good bands,” he said.

Some years later, Mr. Douglas, now a junior engineer at the Record Plant, told this tale to Lennon, who was recording his “Imagine” album there and had wandered into the studio where Mr. Douglas was editing tapes. Finally, the star-struck engineer told Lennon that he had been to Liverpool. “I said, ‘I was a musician, I wanted to know everything there was about how that music was being made.’ ” How did that work out? Lennon asked. “ ‘Good and bad. Bad, I got deported, but good, I made a lot of noise before I did.’ He looked at me and said, ‘Crazy Yanks! It’s  you, isn’t it?’ ”

Thus began a relationship that would continue until Lennon’s death. “Soon I was getting a ride home every day, talking with him, hanging out. He asked for my phone number, and he called one day and asked if I wanted to go to a party. He said, ‘Just watch my back, because I’m not sure about these people.’ It was Abbie Hoffman, the whole crew, looking to take advantage of him.”

Between Liverpool and Lennon, Mr. Douglas, with Mr. Leonetti, the drummer Tommy Brannick, and Paul Venturini, the organist whose family owned  the New Jersey fish market, founded a band called Privilege. The group had a sound akin to Led Zeppelin’s in mind; the Isley Brothers, who wanted a rock ’n’ roll band on their new T-Neck label, had other ideas. 

“It sounded great,” Mr. Douglas said. “A lot of ambient sound, very heavy, a lot of space. I think that space is what got us in trouble.” The Isley Brothers, fresh from their R&B/funk hit “It’s Your Thing,” mixed the album and, unbeknownst to the band, added all manner of instrumentation and backing vocals. “What sounded big and huge in the rough mixes,” Mr. Douglas said, “was now a tiny little ball surrounded by all this other stuff.”

“ ‘This is neither hard rock nor R&B,  really,’ ” Mr. Douglas told the Isleys. “ ‘It’s somewhere in the middle, or nowhere. It’s in the middle of nowhere.’ I thought I was getting my point across, and O’Kelly Isley looked at me and said, ‘Well fuck you,’ and the three of them got up and walked out of the room. Then Rudolph, who was the oldest and smartest, came back and said, ‘You have a problem with it? You mix it.’ ”

Over the next two days, Mr. Douglas watched as Tony May, the recording engineer, mixed the tracks, minus the Isleys’ overdubs. “It was marvelous, incredible to watch the man work,” Mr. Douglas said. “I just thought, this is the most amazing thing. When it was done, I listened back and said, ‘I want to do this. I’ve never had so much control over anything in my life.’ ” Mr. May told him about a new studio, Record Plant.

Now entrenched at the Midtown studio, Mr. Douglas was recording the New York Dolls’ debut album, produced by Todd Rundgren. “Todd hated the band,” Mr. Douglas said. “They were hot, and they were doing something no one else was doing — proving that you could be a band that didn’t know how to play their instruments but still have a sound.”

When Mr. Rundgren stopped coming to sessions, Mr. Douglas and the Dolls continued without him. “Management, which was Leber-Krebs, said, ‘You should get a co-production credit. You’re not going to . . . but we manage a baby band. They’ve already done one record, it’s not really going anywhere. They’re in Boston, why don’t you go up and take a look?’ ” “I went to meet Aerosmith, and we got along immediately. The first thing we talked about was the Yardbirds,” the pioneering blues band that, along with the Beatles, launched the second wave of rock ’n’ roll, this time from across the Atlantic. “We had so much in common.” An association that yielded classic 1970s albums including “Toys in the Attic” and “Rocks” continues in the new century with “Honkin’ On Bobo” and 2012’s “Music From Another Dimension!” He also recorded Aerosmith’s 1978 cover of the Lennon-penned Beatles song, “Come Together.”

In 1980, Lennon called on Mr. Douglas to produce “Double Fantasy,” his first recording in five years. With the album completed and released, the two were working on new material on Dec. 8. “It was a short piece of music,” Mr. Douglas remembered of the track that became “Walking on Thin Ice,” sung by Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono. “I made a loop out of it, then we added some more instruments that John and I played. We were playing guitar solos, we were having a riot, then Yoko laid over that brilliant spoken-word.”

Once again, Mr. Douglas was Lennon’s neighbor, now on the Upper West Side. “I would go home with him every night and then walk four blocks to my house,” he said. But now he was simultaneously producing another artist, and had to remain at the studio. “We were going to meet in the morning to master the single.” A short time later, Lennon was shot and killed as he arrived home. “Then the tape started playing in my head, that if I had gone home with him, I would have seen the guy standing there. . . . That tape ran for years, and it didn’t do me any good at all.”

There is so much more: Recording the Who’s “Who’s Next” at Record Plant. Driving through a hurricane to record Patti Smith’s “Radio Ethiopia.” Discovering Cheap Trick, performing at a bowling alley in Waukesha, Wisc. And, next month, Mr. Douglas will produce the Yardbirds, who will record at Aerosmith’s private studio. 

“My quest,” he said, “is to get the three ex-guitar players, graduates of ‘Yardbirds School,’ to play a solo.” The presence of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page on a new Yardbirds recording would surely constitute a sort of Holy Grail, the vessel that, according to legend, was brought from the Last Supper to England and holds the power to bestow infinite happiness and eternal youth. This is how, more than 60 years on, rock ’n’ roll lives.

Southampton's Harvest Fest Means Party Time With Atlas

Southampton's Harvest Fest Means Party Time With Atlas

At the Southampton Cultural Center
By
Star Staff

The weekend-long Southamptonfest, which will keep the village hopping with concerts, food trucks, sidewalk sales, and art exhibitions, will kick off tomorrow evening at 6:30 with a party at the Southampton Cultural Center. The Nancy Atlas Project and Beau Hulse will provide the music. Tickets are $30 in advance, $40 at the door, and will include complimentary beer and wine from 6:30 till 8.

Latin Dance

Latin Dance

At the Southampton Cultural Center
By
Star Staff

The Southampton Cultural Center will offer an escape from winter’s doldrums with five monthly celebrations of Latin dance beginning Saturday evening from 7 to 11. Presented by Jaime Ruiz with support from OLA of Eastern Long Island, the programs will be geared to both beginners and those with advanced Latin dance skills. Tickets are $10, $5 for children, and include light refreshments. Future festivities are planned for Jan. 6, Feb. 3, April 21, and May 20.

Catching Waves As Never Before

Catching Waves As Never Before

Jace Panebianco, a Southampton native who now lives in Hawaii, produced and directed “Paradigm Lost,” to be screened at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill tomorrow.
Jace Panebianco, a Southampton native who now lives in Hawaii, produced and directed “Paradigm Lost,” to be screened at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill tomorrow.
A.J. Messier
“Paradigm Lost"
By
Jackie Pape

“You’ll see things you’ve never seen done in the water before,” Jace Panebianco said of his new action water sport film, “Paradigm Lost,” which will be presented by Poor Boyz Productions at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill tomorrow.

Although a Southampton native, Mr. Panebianco has spent most of his adult life in Hawaii, where he lives now. He had a stint as a professional wind surfer, and competed in the wind surf tour for nearly eight years, but 10 years ago, after he retired, the wind blew his career in another direction. 

“I transitioned out of wind surfing and into filmmaking,” Mr. Panebianco said in a phone interview. 

While he has worked on quite a few water sports films, he is particularly proud of his newest, he said, because it incorporates so many amazing riders — Kai Lenny, in particular.

Mr. Lenny, 24, has made a name for himself in the surf world for his unusually diverse skills. Not only is he a professional big-wave surfer, he excels at stand-up paddleboarding, wind and kite surfing, and foil-board surfing, all featured in the film. 

Although foil-board surfing gained popularity years ago with the help of another famous surfer, Laird Hamilton (also in the film), Mr. Panebianco explained that in an effort to maximize his time in the water, Mr. Lenny turned to the surf foil — a surf board with a hydrofoil extended below it, allowing it to leave the surface of the water at various speeds. Surfers say it makes even the worst waves fun. 

In turn, Mr. Lenny notably tweaked the sport, which typically requires a mechanical vehicle to aid riders in catching waves. “Kai is doing it completely new,” Mr. Panebianco said. “He removed the need for a Jet Ski and bindings, and stripped it down to make it simple.” 

While foil-board surfing will never quite replace surfing (neither Mr. Lenny nor anyone else wants it to), its ability to make use of any water conditions is the essence of “Paradigm Lost.” Mr. Panebianco hopes that the film, which captures the highest level of water sports and tells the stories of some of the top surfers in a variety of styles, will appeal to everyone who enjoys being on the water.   

“There are so many different types of waters on Long Island, so the sports you can do are limitless,” he said. “If you watch the film and your mind is open to other sports, our goal is that you will take a chance and try something new. This movie should get you pumped up to do that.” 

The film, which was co-produced with Red Bull Media House, will play tomorrow at 6 p.m. Tickets are $20, $5 for members of the Parrish.

Royce Weatherly's Painterly Derring-Do

Royce Weatherly's Painterly Derring-Do

Widget” and “Diminished Basic”, below, are two of the paintings by Royce Weatherly at the Watermill Center.
Widget” and “Diminished Basic”, below, are two of the paintings by Royce Weatherly at the Watermill Center.
A fellow at the Watermill Center interacts with the East End environment
By
Jennifer Landes

Last Thursday morning, Royce Weatherly walked into the Watermill Center carrying a handful of long grasses he had found on a walk. They were evidence of the artist’s interaction with the South Fork environment since his arrival this month.

Mr. Weatherly is a fellow at the center, one of the early recipients of a grant from Inga Maren Otto that established a fellowship for visual artists there. A studio room on the second floor has light and space for him to set up small tableaux and store the collection of stones, feathers, and other objects he has found here that might serve as subjects or inspirations for his paintings. 

Elsewhere in the center, a mini survey of his finished work hangs in formal and surprising ways. “Looking Slowly: 30 Years of Painting” is a mostly borrowed show of his characteristically small canvases, measuring anywhere from 14 to 21 inches in height and width. 

He paints only a few works a year. Having held a number of day jobs, including being an art handler at the Whitney Museum of American Art and a set builder for Martha Stewart, he said there are times he is too busy or tired to work on art. His practice of repeatedly going over the subjects and backgrounds of his paintings in very thin layers of oil paint also adds to the delay. “It takes me around 90 sittings to complete a painting and that can take anywhere from two to six months” depending on other de mands on his time.

Some might call his approach photorealism, but it is really a kind of heightened naturalism, and his choice of modest objects have attracted a loyal following of collectors who, judging by the wall labels, like to acquire his paintings in multiples, similar to how the devout collect icons. 

The artist and his work carry a lot of contradictions, which only enrich the experience of his paintings. Light comes from multiple sources. Some objects, like cellophane, seem to be feats of painterly derring-do, the height of a tradition of artists laying down a bravura challenge to themselves or others in a spirit of competition that goes back to the Renaissance.

Speaking of the Renaissance, Mr. Weatherly said a Durer nature study had been lately occupying his mind, the grasses in his hand bearing close resemblance to some of the unsung subjects, including dandelions, that the German master had elevated in his paintings from more than 500 years ago.

His subjects in general are a mix of natural and man-made, and tend toward the humble and overlooked. Having enjoyed an egg sandwich from Hampton Coffee one morning, he said the crinkled foil packets of ketchup at the bottom of the bag struck his interest, but in a formal and emotionally neutral way.

Black walnuts, one of his earliest subjects, are often found littering the ground, more of a nuisance than a prize. He shared that his mother used the walnuts to make pound cakes and cookies at Christmastime in his native North Carolina. For him, the walnuts are a stand-in for his mother in a painting he made for her and now keeps after her death.

In a painting of a seashell and a potato he made for his wife, he noted the symbolism of the objects. His wife has spent most of her life on the coast, and the ocean remains important to her. He grew up near farmland where potatoes grow. It’s a lovely self-portrait that has a serendipitous resonance on the South Fork.

If such sentiment is too warm and fuzzy for some, his more clinical examinations, such as “Worklights” from 2012, “Widget” from 2013, and “Bupkis” make up for it. “Bupkis,” whose literal meaning is “nothing at all,” is a diner paper cup of coffee, empty save for a drop along the seam of its interior, lying on its side next to the discarded cellophane of a cigarette wrapper. The cellophane is a gossamer parallelogram, its transparency built from the thinnest of paint layers capturing pockets of shadow and glimmers of light.

The empty cellophane wrapper is a repeating motif in his work. Having grown up in tobacco country, the visual signifiers of cigarettes are part of his nurture and perhaps his nature as well. 

“Twilight,” which might be considered a companion piece, is an examination of an old-fashioned cigarette lighter in full flame. Rather than floating in space, this single object is placed on a surface in a defined background with a seam to the rear and imperfections that suggest paint or plaster buckling where a wall intersects the floor or the end of a table. As detailed as the finish and soot of the lighter are presented, the flame is an abstraction, casting dusky colors and shadows below it.

Often compared to Vermeer or Dutch still-life virtuosos, one can see it in the handling of his cellophane, but Mr. Weatherly’s light moves around, comes from multiple places in some cases, and can’t be relied upon for consistency. A painting from 1988 alluding to Rembrandt’s lighting may offer the most evidence in favor of such comparisons, but his recent work proves more problematic. 

As faithfully as he renders some objects in space, others, such as the three balls in “Diminished Basic” from 2013, are rendered flatly, slightly curved, but hardly in the round. “Sticky Bun” also seems more like an object painted from memory than from direct observation. The spareness of these exercises ally him more closely with modern masters like Morandi, whose spare and generalized still lifes are recalled in these works. 

The exhibition is on view through Oct. 11 by appointment or during this weekend’s events (Click for Watermill Center's events).

‘Itzhak’ Premieres at Festival Opening

‘Itzhak’ Premieres at Festival Opening

Itzhak Perlman in a scene from “Itzhak,” a documentary having its world premiere as the opening night film of the Hamptons International Film Festival.
Itzhak Perlman in a scene from “Itzhak,” a documentary having its world premiere as the opening night film of the Hamptons International Film Festival.
‘I’m going to be surprised to see what’s in the film. How do you put a hundred hours into an hour?’
By
Thomas Bohlert

“You need to be able to hear it, otherwise nothing comes out. I’m not talking about quality; I’m talking about beauty. The violin is a fantastic instrument. It is a replica of the soul.”

These are the words of Itzhak Perlman, considered to be one of the finest virtuoso violinists living today, who has a celebrity status that is rare for a classical musician. He is the subject of a new documentary, “Itzhak,” which will be premiered next Thursday night at the opening of the Hamptons International Film Festival.

Alison Chernick, the director of the film, first met Mr. Perlman over two years ago. “As a documentarian, I saw a large character with huge passion and spirit. I wanted to explore the person behind this beautiful sound . . . I saw Jewish history, humor, discipline, drive, and, of course, amazing resilience and overcoming of obstacles, and I knew the story would be incredibly colorful,” she said last week.

Mr. Perlman was at first hesitant, but after seeing some of Ms. Chernick’s previous documentaries, which he liked a great deal, and “after some arm-twisting,” he said recently with a laugh, “I said, let’s do it . . . It was relatively painless.”

The filming took place over the span of a year. From November 2015 to the fall of 2016, Ms. Chernick followed Mr. Perlman around the world, from New York to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, Miami, Washington, D.C., and Paris, as he rehearsed, performed, cooked, made jokes, taught, and spent downtime with his wife and friends.

“She was omnipresent in all sorts of places,” Mr. Perlman said. “I would talk to the camera, and if I didn’t like what I said, I would say to her, ‘Editing-room floor!’ And she’d say, ‘Not necessarily,’ and I’d say, ‘Yes, right on the floor!’ ”

After a year of filming, the editing began. “Editing is where the story really comes to life and the film comes to life, and that took another year,” said Ms. Chernick. “My style of production was not to impose a story where there already is a story, so it’s cinéma vérité in style.” 

The film also covers aspects of Mr. Perlman’s childhood (he had polio when he was 4, and though he uses crutches or a mobile scooter, he has never allowed that to hamper his incredibly full and active life); his teen years as a prodigy, including an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1958 that put him in the international eye, and his early career. However, it is not a biography; it is more about discovering the human being who makes magnificent music. 

Whatever the master does, “he does it all with the same largeness of spirit and love for life,” Ms. Chernick said. The 82-minute film has moments that are touching, heartwarming, charming, amusing, poignant, philosophical, irrepressibly joyful, and uplifting.

Ms. Chernick has done documentaries about visual artists, including Matthew Barney, Jeff Koons, and Roy Lichtenstein, but this is her first film about a musician. “With visual artists, you usually ask, what is the soundtrack going to be,” but in this case “I’m not going to impose my music onto their craft. Obviously, we had this amazing soundtrack to work with.”

Mr. Perlman has often been seen on television, has been honored with four Emmy Awards, and has been the subject of a PBS documentary, “Fiddling for the Future,” about his work as a teacher and conductor at the Perlman Music Program on Shelter Island, for which he is highly regarded on the East End. The program was founded in 1994 by Mr. Perlman’s wife, Toby, to offer instruction and mentoring for exceptional young string players (ages 12 and up), with Mr. Perlman leading the world-class faculty. Though it features intensive summer programs and concerts for the public, it continues year round, with a series of concerts where “very talented kids come and play recitals” throughout the winter.

Mr. Perlman hadn’t seen the finished film as of last week, only a small part of it. “I’m going to be surprised to see what’s in the film,” he said. “There’s so much there, it’s enough for maybe eight documentaries. How do you put a hundred hours into an hour?”

He will be in attendance at Guild Hall next Thursday when “Itzhak” premieres at 7 p.m. The film will be shown on the same day at 7:30 p.m. at the East Hampton Cinema, and on Oct. 7 at 10 a.m. at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor. Ticket information is at hamptonsfilmfest.org.

According to Ms. Chernick, the documentary will have its New York City premiere on Nov. 16; then it will be in theaters. It will be shown on the PBS TV series “American Masters” in March or April 2018, and will go abroad as well.

The film festival has created a new award, named in honor of Dick Cavett, and announced this week that Alec Baldwin will present Mr. Cavett himself with the first one during opening-night festivities. In other late-breaking festival news, the actress Annette Bening will participate on Oct. 8 in the festival’s Conversations With series.

Albee Auction Yields $12.5M

Albee Auction Yields $12.5M

A rare “white glove sale"
By
Jennifer Landes

Last week’s sale of Edward Albee’s collection of art and decorative objects at Sotheby’s in Manhattan broke records for many of the artists involved. It was a rare “white glove sale,” meaning all 105 lots sold, and the auction raised $12.5 million to support the Edward F. Albee Foundation, which provides residencies for writers and visual artists in Montauk, where the playwright lived part time.

Mr. Albee established the foundation in 1967, flush from his success with plays such as “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and “A Delicate Balance.” He made provisions in his will that his collection be sold to benefit the foundation, and his will was honored after his death last year. Most of the art he collected had been placed in his TriBeCa loft.

The auction featured work by Milton Avery, Lee Krasner, John Cage, and many other artists, some better known than others. Avery’s “Meditation,” from 1960, sold for $3.7 million, exceeding its estimate of $2 million to $3 million. Three bidders drove it to the second highest price paid at auction for a work by the artist. A second Avery painting, “Two Nudes‚“ from 1954, did not fare as well, selling below its estimate of $400,000 to $600,000, at $372,500.

Three-quarters of the lots offered, however, did exceed their high estimates. The sale also set 16 new auction records for works by artists such as Krasner, whose acrylic and gouache on paper sold for $588,500, far above its high estimate of $180,000. Works by Cage, Ilya Bolotowsky, and Albert Eugene Gallatin were some of the other record breakers. John McLaughlin’s “V-1957” attracted six spirited bidders who put the piece high over its $80,000 to $120,000 estimate to a final price of $516,500.

Amy Cappellazzo, the chairwoman of Sotheby’s fine art division, explained the enthusiasm as an appreciation of “Edward’s canny eye and thoughtful understanding of the artistic process” by a broad collecting audience. In a release, she said that the bidders understood that what was on offer was “a slice of New York intellectual history.” 

Rising Stars Piano Series Returns to Southampton

Rising Stars Piano Series Returns to Southampton

At the Southampton Cultural Center
By
Star Staff

The Rising Stars piano series at the Southampton Cultural Center will open its fall season with a concert by Igor Lovchinsky on Saturday at 7 p.m. The recital will include works by Bach, Chopin, Wild, and Gershwin.

The Russian-born pianist, whose repertoire includes both classical music and jazz, has performed at the Kennedy Center, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw, and the American Embassy in Beijing. His recent tours have included performances in Poland, Lithuania, and Brazil.

Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. There is no charge for students under 21.

Live Score for ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’ Screening

Live Score for ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’ Screening

At the Southampton Arts Center
By
Star Staff

Two screenings of the classic 1920 German horror film “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,” accompanied by a live improvised score by the Dave Harrington Group, will take place at the Southampton Arts Center on Sunday at 7 p.m. and Monday at 2 p.m.

Consisting of Mr. Harrington on guitar, bass, and electronics, Andrew Fox, keyboards, electronics, and vocals, and Samer Ghadry, drums and percussion, the group will bring free jazz, drone, ambient, and film music to bear on Robert Wiene’s important work of German Expressionist cinema.

The Art Scene: 10.05.17

The Art Scene: 10.05.17

Local Art News
By
Mark Segal

Two at Ille Arts

“R&R,” an exhibition of paintings by Mari Rantanen and sculpture by Bonnie Rychlak, will open at Ille Arts in Amagansett on Saturday, with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. It will continue through Oct. 23.

The artists are longtime friends and share a studio in Long Island City, but their work has little in common. A native of Finland, Ms. Rantanen creates vibrant abstract paintings that “bounce between ultra-flatness and the multi-dimensional, while patterns find synthesis amid popping, polyphonic color,” according to an essay for the show’s catalog by Janet Goleas, an artist and critic.

Ms. Rychlak’s sculptures emerge in part from childhood memories of growing up in Southern California. Her photo-narratives consist of photographs, and in some cases objects, partially obscured by an overlay of pebbled glass that suggests the elusiveness of memory. Other works include cast wax and hand-carved sculptures of drains, sewer grates, and a vintage diving helmet.

 

Abstraction at Ashawagh

“Mostly Abstract 5,” a show of work by 10 artists who approach abstraction in different ways, will be on view at Ashawagh Hall in Springs from tomorrow through Monday. A reception will take place Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m.

The exhibition includes painting, glass, clay, wood, photography, collage, graphite, and resin. The participating artists are Beth Barry, Barbara Bilotta, Anahi DeCanio, Anna Franklin, Katherine Hammond, Mary Milne, Bo Parsons, Sheila Ratner, Live Thiers, and Mark Zimmerman.

 

New at Grenning

“Sag and the City,” an exhibition of scenes painted on the East End and in New York City, will open Saturday with a reception from 5:30 to 7 p.m. and continue through Nov. 12 at the Grenning Gallery in Sag Harbor.

Stephen Bauman and Steven Forster have collaborated on a series of cityscapes, including “Queensboro,” a painting of that landmark bridge. Marc Dalessio will be represented by depictions of Times Square and of the beach in Amagansett.

The show will also include work by Maryann Lucas, Ben Fenske, Carl Bretske, Benjamin Lussier, and Laura Grenning.

 

White Room Gallery Tagged

“Up From Underground,” with work by the graffiti artists V.P. Dedaj, a.k.a. Vic 161, and Dominick S. Vetro, a.k.a. TAG, opens at Bridgehampton’s White Room Gallery today, and will be on view through Oct. 22. A reception, including a live graffiti demonstration, will be held Saturday from 6 to 9 p.m.

Born in Brussels in 1959, Mr. Dedaj moved to the Bronx with his family in 1967. He was a celebrated graffiti artist known as Victor-161 by the mid-1970s, when he was admitted into the graffiti clique Wild Style.

A Bronx native, Mr. Vetro was recognized by 1979 for his hand tag in bus yards and other public surfaces throughout the city. He was affiliated with the Throgs Neck Crew and United Artists, writing teams that found it smart to stick together in the Bronx in the 1970s.

Both artists have been influenced by cartoons, animation, surrealism, abstraction, and Pop Art.

 

“Women Painting Women”

“Women Painting Women: A Voice With Vision” will open at the RJD Gallery in Bridgehampton with a reception Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. and remain on view through Nov. 5.

Work by 19 artists was selected for exhibition from more than 200 submissions from around the world. Gallery artists will also be represented in the show.

 

Marcia Marcus at Firestone Loft

“Role Play: Paintings 1958-1973,” an exhibition of paintings by Marcia Marcus, will open next Thursday at the Eric Firestone Loft on Great Jones Street in Manhattan and continue through Dec. 2. A reception will be held next Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m.

A portraitist who worked at the intersection of painting, proto-performance art, and identity politics, Ms. Marcus was a central figure in New York’s avant-garde art world during the 1950s and 1960s. She collaborated with Allan Kaprow and was invited by Red Grooms to join the Delancey Street Museum, an artist cooperative, where she staged a “happening.”

According to the gallery, her “portraits, self-portraits, and group portraits — of artists, writers, family, friends, and acquaintances — show how portraiture sheds light on the shifting roles we all embody.” A panel discussion focused on her work will take place at the loft on Oct. 17 at 7:15 p.m.

 

Images of Costa Rica’s Beaches

“Impressions in the Sand,” a show of photographs by Nancy Breakstone, will open at Grain Surfboards in Amagansett with a reception Saturday from 6 to 9 p.m. It will remain on view through Oct. 20.

An avid windsurfer, sailor, and paddleboarder, Ms. Breakstone began the series after noticing how, twice a day, the Pacific Ocean left designs of startling complexity and delicacy on beaches in Costa Rica. The exhibition includes her photographs of those designs, some of which resemble objects in nature, others of which are abstract.

 

One-Day Benefit 

“Art in the Barn,” a sale of paintings by Paton Miller and sculpture by the late Don Saco to benefit the Southampton Cultural Center, will be held on Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. at Mr. Miller’s house at 459 Magee Street, in Southampton. Entertainment and light refreshments will be provided.

 

Pop-Up in East Hampton

The Gallery at 46 Green Street Studios in Hudson, N.Y., will mount a pop-up art exhibition this weekend at 1 Cobblers Court in East Hampton. The show will include work by 16 artists from the Hudson Valley, New York City, and the Hamptons.

The opening event, which will feature a food truck, local wine, and a D.J., will take place from 4 to 7 p.m. on Saturday. Artwork can be previewed that day between 1 and 3 p.m. The show will also be open on Sunday, from 2 to 6.