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The Art Scene: 08.17.17

The Art Scene: 08.17.17

Local Art News
By
Mark Segal

New at Fireplace Project

“Second Skin,” a solo exhibition of work by Justin Adian, will open tomorrow at the Fireplace Project in Springs and remain on view through Sept. 10. A reception will be held on Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m.

Mr. Adian stretches oil, enamel, or spray-painted canvas around foam cushions, often combining two or more shapes to form composite wall-mounted objects that blur the boundaries between painting and sculpture. The artist’s most comprehensive solo show to date, “Second Skin” will include wall paintings, tabletop ceramics, and drawings.

 

On the Montauk Green

The Montauk Artists Association’s 23rd annual show on Montauk Green will take place tomorrow from noon to 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Local, regional, and national artisans will be on hand with painting, sculpture, jewelry, photography, glass, ceramics, mixed-media works, and woodworking.

 

Shelter Island Open Studios

This year’s open studio tour of the Artists of Shelter Island (ARTSI) will take place Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Artists participating in the free event include Jerry Glassberg, Janet Culbertson, Kathryn A. Cunningham, Roz Dimon, Katherine Hammond, Megan Hergrueter, Melora Griffis, Linda Puls, Kia Pedersen, Karen Kiaer, Liss Larsen, Linda Puls, Joe Reilly, June Shatken, Jana Sheinker, Peter Waldner, Susan Schrott, and Mike Zisser. More information and maps are available at artsi.info.

 

Tripoli’s “Summer Trip”

As summer in the Hamptons winds down, the Tripoli Gallery in Southampton will present “Summer Trip,” a group exhibition that “formed itself around a chill mood,” from Saturday through Sept. 18, with a reception set for Saturday from 7 to 9 p.m.

Organized by Katherine Bernhardt and Tripoli Patterson, the show features work primarily by painters living and working in Brooklyn, where Ms. Bernhardt has lived for 20 years. Work by Yevgeniya Baras, Todd Bienvenu, Katherine Bradford, Quentin Curry, Mira Dancy, Dan McCarthy, Jonathan Rajewski, Claude Viallat, and Ms. Bernhardt will bring “the raw energy and summer vibes from the Brooklyn art scene out to the East End,” according to the gallery.

 

Artist Talks at Parrish

The Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill will present talks with two internationally acclaimed artists from its collection, Mary Heilmann and Clifford Ross, next Thursday at 5 p.m. and on Friday, Aug. 25, at 6 p.m., respectively.

The Dia Foundation and the museum organized the first conversation, featuring Jessica Morgan, the foundation’s director, Laura Owens, a painter who will have a solo show at the Whitney Museum in November, and Ms. Heilmann, whose work is on view at the foundation’s Dan Flavin Art Institute in Bridgehampton through May 27.

Then, Mr. Ross, whose “Light/ Waves,” an installation of prints on wood and video on LED walls, can be seen at the Parrish through Oct. 15, will talk about his work with András Szántó, a writer, researcher, and moderator of the Art Basel Conversations series.

 

Grenning Turns 20

The Grenning Gallery in Sag Harbor will celebrate its 20th anniversary with an exhibition of work by 16 artists long associated with the gallery. The show will open with a reception on Saturday from 6:30 to 8 p.m. and remain on view through Sept. 10. 

An encounter on Shelter Island with the plein-air painter Nelson H. White set Laura Grenning on the road to a new career that ran through the Florence Academy of Art in Italy. That experience helped form the gallery’s dedication to art that respects the canons of beauty and celebrates the direct observation of nature.

Among the featured artists are Ben Fenske, Ramiro, Marc Dalessio, Jacob Collins, Sarah Lamb, and Edward Minoff.

 

Miles Jaffe in Sag

A solo exhibition of works by Miles Jaffe will open at the Monika Olko Gallery in Sag Harbor with a reception on Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. and continue through Sept. 4. The artist’s “Notes to Self” series consists of ideas, plans, and sketches painted on large facsimiles of notebook paper made of metal, polymer, and pigment, some lined, some perforated. His “Artists Color” series features large metal replicas of paint tubes, some oozing paint, others a pencil, a dollar bill, or an American flag. Both series reflect a witty, conceptual view of art making, seasoned with Pop.

 

Zines at Ille Arts

Ille Arts in Amagansett will present “Zine East 3,” an exhibition of zines, handmade books, original artwork, prints, jewelry, objects, and multiples created by artists at affordable prices on Saturday and Sunday. The gallery will be open from noon to 6 p.m.

 

Nathan Slate Joseph on Film

“The Way It Goes,” a 60-minute documentary by Lana Jokel on the artist Nathan Slate Joseph, will be shown at Christy’s Art Center in Sag Harbor on Sunday at 8 p.m. The film interweaves Mr. Joseph’s art and creative process with scenes of family life and the art world. Ms. Jokel’s previous documentaries have focused on Larry Rivers, Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, and contemporary artists of the Hamptons, among others.

‘Velvet’ on Brick at Christy’s in Sag Harbor

‘Velvet’ on Brick at Christy’s in Sag Harbor

Nathan Slate Joseph, who is the subject of a Lana Jokel film to be screened on Sunday at Christy’s Art Center in Sag Harbor, also has work on view in the “Velvet Elvis” exhibition in the gallery.
Nathan Slate Joseph, who is the subject of a Lana Jokel film to be screened on Sunday at Christy’s Art Center in Sag Harbor, also has work on view in the “Velvet Elvis” exhibition in the gallery.
Art in an evocative setting
By
Jennifer Landes

The Christy’s Art Center on Madison Street in Sag Harbor is an evocative space to view art. With cement floors, brick walls, and funky archways it has a cave-like atmosphere and is not always an easy place to hang wall pieces, making it a challenge for all but the most intrepid curators.

There have been a couple of shows this year and some screenings organized by Julie Keyes, Pamela Willoughby, and Ashley Dye. Currently on view is “Velvet Elvis,” a seemingly disparate grouping of artworks in several mediums, all brought together primarily through their makers’ associations with Ms. Willoughby. 

One exception is Nathan Slate Joseph, an artist well represented in the gallery, whose inclusion in the show appeared to be a contribution of Ms. Keyes. Working contemporaneously with the likes of Brice Marden and John Chamberlain, Mr. Joseph is one of those artists whose work has been lauded and purchased by influential collectors and museums, but who never became as well known as his colleagues.

He works in several mediums, but his most well known are pieces in found steel that he gives a painterly treatment. In two works titled “Untitled Black,” he shows his range from welded and bent steel to a two-dimensional composition of pigment on canvas. Both highlight the operation of light and shadow in helping enliven the motion and tension in the compositions, which seem to be inspired by each other. 

Very densely packed, his steel sculptures mine similar compositional territory to work by Franz Kline but have a lot more activity. The painting, which could almost be a negative of the sculpture, captures a push-pull struggle of light and darkness. 

His narrow “Urbana” series, also in steel and represented here, looks like a combination of Jenga and squared off Lincoln Logs, towering skyward, and anywhere from five to seven feet tall.

Jean-Michel Basquiat is represented by two of his calling cards, color Xeroxes he made and cut in the studio, signing them and handing them out to new acquaintances. One recipient of these approximately 5-by-4-inch cards was Andy Warhol, who went on to work with the young protégé in a famous collaboration in the 1980s. 

Another piece from the period is Rene Ricard’s “Matisse,” a line drawing in the style of Matisse that Ricard signed with the name of the artist. Playing with ideas of authorship, which was very popular at the time, he calls into question artistic value and the aura of authenticity as it relates to it.

Nicole Nadeau’s  “It’s Not Fun Anymore” is a series of three medicine cabinets with fun house mirrors electroplated to them. Her resin pieces incorporate wax and matches laid out in grids on cardboard. The matches are burnt to a crisp, which gives them a scorched-earth effect. 

One of the most playful of the artists in the show is Randy Polumbo, whose dildo-packed Birken-shaped bags in blown glass are simultaneously challenging and silly. The two bags sit on pedestals in different spots in the space. In a wall piece, a shiny sheet metal frame holds what look like glass starfish in a central recess and in circular nooks at the four corners. When looked at closely, the same phallic shapes emerge.

Mason Saltarrelli, a former assistant of Julian Schnabel, who worked with him in Montauk, has been on his own for several years and has shown here regularly. His three mixed-media works on paper use mostly linear imagery that picks up on some of the same forces at work in the other art in the gallery.

In fact, the more time one spends in the space, the clearer the relationships become between the various compositions and styles on display. There is a strong interplay with rigid geometry and the freehanded undulating path that animates many of the works here, whether they are in two or three dimensions.

One artist who stands out as not really fitting into the overall scheme in a direct way is Hush. His large-scale work “Inception” mixes a tondo, or rounded panel support, with shard-like compositional strips of mixed-media design. The palettes of his screenprint portraits of geishas complement nearby artwork, but stand out as non-abstract.

Also on view is a piece by Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe, who just finished a solo run at the Fireplace Project in Springs. Their abstract oil on canvas fits more seamlessly into the overall scheme of the gallery.

The title “Velvet Elvis” leaves one wondering. Likenesses of the early rock idol on velvet have defined kitsch since the late-20th century. There are some overt references to pop culture here, but that doesn’t seem to be where the theme is going. Instead the title seems to suggest that the curators are having some summer fun, bringing together this group of people in a way that is respectful, but with tongues planted firmly in their cheeks. 

They will screen another documentary, Lana Jokel’s “The Way It Goes” on Nathan Slate Joseph, with a discussion on Sunday from 8 to 10 p.m.

The Bluffs Alive With Music for Montauk

The Bluffs Alive With Music for Montauk

Music for Montauk features thematic concerts with classical music chosen to suit the casual mood of summer and the outdoor settings. The weeklong event will begin on Sunday.
Music for Montauk features thematic concerts with classical music chosen to suit the casual mood of summer and the outdoor settings. The weeklong event will begin on Sunday.
Bringing world-class musicians to “the End” to perform creatively conceived programs in unconventional outdoor locales
By
Jennifer Landes

Beginning Sunday, the bluffs will be alive with the sound of music as Music for Montauk returns for a week of concerts under the direction of Lilah Gosman and Milos Repicky.

Since taking over the program a few years ago, the couple have brought world-class musicians to “the End” to perform creatively conceived programs in unconventional outdoor locales.

This year, the series will include four regular concerts and an “immersive musical experience” at a benefit event to be held at the Art Barge, on Friday, Aug. 25. The $150 Sunset Salon will include cocktails and light fare.

An evening of Mozart will be a highlight next Thursday with virtuoso soloists and a full-scale symphony near Third House at Montauk County Park. Mr. Repicky said in a press release that “Mozart’s music is perfect for Third House: It’s exciting, beautiful, playful, and dramatic all at once!” Annaliesa Place will play the Violin Concerto in A, with a lyrical tune and country-dance rhythms suited for the casual setting. Amanda Lynn Bottoms, a mezzo-soprano, will sing Mozart’s aria “Parto, ma tu ben mio.” Benjamin Fingland will perform Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto. Music for Montauk’s chamber orchestra will accompany the soloists and will perform Symphony No. 25 in G minor. The free concert will begin at 6 p.m. 

On Sunday, the performances kick off at Fort Pond House at 5 p.m. with “The Opening of the Wells.” The program was inspired by “a Moravian custom to celebrate the fresh flow of spring water in the new season.” The songs and instrumental solos chosen “evoke water nymphs and the magic of the woods under the weeping birch tree in the evening light.” Raquel González, a soprano from the Washington National Opera, will perform “Song to the Moon” by Antonin Dvorák. Paul La Rosa, a baritone, will join Ms. González, a female vocal quartet, and instrumentalists.

Tuesday’s Sole East performance will feature the Pedro Giraudo Tango Trio with Sofia Tosello. Mr. Giraudo is a Grammy Award-winning bassist, and his group includes Rodolfo Zanetti on bandoneón and pianist Emilio Teubal. With cocktails and dancing, tickets for the 8 p.m. event are $20 at the door or on the Music for Montauk website.

The series returns to Third House on Aug. 26 with a concert centered around Robert Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E flat major. The string quartet of Ms. Place, Joanna Maurer, Jessica Meyer, and Diego García will perform Giacomo Puccini’s “Crisamtemi” to open the program, which begins at 6:30 p.m.

Guests are encouraged to take picnics, chairs, and blankets to all of the free concerts, which are also family friendly. Tickets for the Sunset Salon at the Art Barge are available on the festival’s website.

Comedy, Baby Boomer-Style in East Hampton

Comedy, Baby Boomer-Style in East Hampton

Jake Johannsen is one of the headliners in a comedy show of baby boomer humor next Thursday at Guild Hall.
Jake Johannsen is one of the headliners in a comedy show of baby boomer humor next Thursday at Guild Hall.
Comedy legends from the last 30 years of stand-up take the stage at Guild Hall
By
Judy D’Mello

The accelerating dotage of the ’60s generation is surely a fountainhead of comedic material, and as such, a triple dose of laughs should be in store next Thursday when comedy legends from the last 30 years of stand-up take the stage at Guild Hall. 

Carol Siskind, Jake Johanssen, and Dom Irrera, who were up-and-comers in the ’80s before becoming venue-packing headliners and regular fixtures on the late-night television talk show circuit, will reunite for the second leg of the Boomer Comedy Unlimited Tour. 

“We grew up together, and then we stopped working together,” said Ms. Siskind, who, together with the longtime producer and manager Pat Buckles, conceived the idea for a boomer comedy reunion after years of performing and writing for TV and film. “I wanted to get back to performing in theaters, where I most love to be, and I wanted to get the gang back.” The uniqueness of the shows, she explained, is the chance to catch three or four headliners in one night.

The tour will feature the best comedians from the baby boomer generation, including pioneers of the original comedy boom 35 years ago whose creative influences inspired and shaped today’s biggest funnyfolks.

In addition to the Guild Hall trio, other legendary performers on the tour include Judy Tenuta, Lenny Clarke, Mark Schiff, Ken Rogerson, John Caponera, Cathy Ladman, Bobby Slayton, and Rocky LaPorte, with more names being added for additional shows.

Among them, Ms. Siskind, Mr. Johanssen, and Mr. Irrera boast 100 credits on late-night shows, HBO, Showtime, and Netflix specials. Mr. Johanssen holds a record for having appeared 46 times on David Letterman’s show. “It’s only because David was a quitter that I didn’t make it to 50,” he said during a phone interview. 

Mr. Johanssen, who lives in Santa Monica, Calif., said that appearing onstage at Guild Hall “with Carol and Dom on the same night, is a big deal for me‚ A-plus. I haven’t been to the Hamptons in a very long time. So, it’s a win-win all around.”

Mr. Irrera has made guest appearances on “Seinfeld,” “Everybody Loves Raymond,” and “King of Queens.” He has performed on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” “The Late Show With David Letterman,” “Late Night With Conan O’Brien,” “The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson,” “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” “The View,” and made several appearances on “Oprah.” He currently stars in the Showtime hit “I’m Dyin’ Up Here.”

For Ms. Siskind, who said she grew up in “a very funny family” and realized at age 5 that she could make people laugh, the Boomer Comedy Unlimited Tour is a return to the basics of her craft: performing in front of an audience. Recalling a moment from her years of television performances, she said she had sat down once with a producer of “The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson” to have all her jokes cleared. She suggested removing one joke in particular because she had noticed that when performed only half the audience found it funny. The producer said, “No, leave it in. Johnny will love it.” A few hours later, Ms. Siskind delivered her joke on air. Mr. Carson was the only one who laughed. 

The Boomer Comedy Unlimited Tour will take the Guild Hall stage next Thursday at 8 p.m. Tickets, $25 to $75, can be purchased online at guildhall.org or from the box office: 631-324-4050.

A Megastar Beyond the Lights

A Megastar Beyond the Lights

The directors of “Whitney: Can I Be Me” create a picture of a remarkable woman who needed more help than she received.
The directors of “Whitney: Can I Be Me” create a picture of a remarkable woman who needed more help than she received.
“Can I be me?”
By
Judy D’Mello

As part of the Hamptons International Film Festival’s ongoing SummerDocs series, “Whitney: Can I Be Me” will be screened tonight at 7 at the Southampton Cinema. 

Apparently, whenever Whitney Houston felt she was being overmanaged, she would ask, “Can I be me?” Hence the title for this sad tale behind the superstar singer’s megawatt smile. 

With many minutes of previously unseen footage, the film offers viewers a rare glimpse into the height of the pop icon’s career. Directed by Nick Broomfield, a British documentarian, and Rudi Dolezal, a music video director who shot Ms. Houston in concerts, recorded interviews, and captured intimate backstage moments, it traces the trajectory of a girl from New Jersey to stratospheric fame and on to a mounting fragility and sadness. She was eventually found dead in a bathtub in 2012 at the age of 48. 

Mr. Broomfield is one of the most distinctive voices in British documentary filmmaking, with a career that spans more than 30 films and four decades. 

From the film’s publicist comes this synopsis: “Whether it be racism, religion, drugs, sexuality, self-doubt, gossip, rivalry, insufficient training, the demands of parents and the industry, a troubled marriage playing out in headlines, or the inevitable toll those stresses take from so muscular and passionate a singer, the directors leave nothing unturned. They create a picture of a remarkable woman who needed more help than she received and provide an unflinching, gripping, and wholly committed exploration of talent given and taken away, in an era obsessed with how that talent lives when the stage lights go down.”

Following the screening, Alec Baldwin, a co-chairman of the film festival, and David Nugent, its artistic director, will moderate a conversation with Mr. Broomfield. Tickets are $40 at hamptonsfilmfest.org or at the theater, which is at 43 Hill Street in Southampton.     

The Art Scene: 08.10.17

The Art Scene: 08.10.17

Local Art News
By
Mark Segal

Mary Heilmann in Bridge

An open house with refreshments will celebrate the exhibition “Mary Heilmann: Painting Pictures” at the Dia Art Foundation’s Dan Flavin Art Institute in Bridgehampton, Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m.

On view through May 2018, the show presents artworks that mark key milestones in Ms. Heilmann’s career, including a selection of early paintings from the 1970s and ‘80s, when she began visiting the East End. Several recent works that have not been seen outside her Bridgehampton studio are included as well.

After moving from California to New York in the 1960s, Ms. Heilmann encountered the work of artists closely associated with the foundation, among them Mr. Flavin and Donald Judd, whose work had an important impact on her own.

 

Eugene Brodsky at Studio 11

A solo show of silkscreens, collages, maquettes, and paintings by Eugene Brodsky will be on view from Saturday through Sept. 6 at Studio 11 in the Red Horse Plaza in East Hampton. A reception will be held Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m.

Mr. Brodsky often combines compositions of disparate elements with a taste for unusual materials and complex processes. His collages, executed in ink on silk and burnished paper, layer mostly abstract and roughly rectilinear elements with an occasional geometric shape, figurative image, or snippet of language.

 

Summer of Sculpture II

The Springs Improvement Society’s second annual “Summer of Sculpture” exhibition, featuring the work of 14 artists, has been expanded beyond the Springs Historic District to include Bill King’s “Velo III,” near the intersection of Old Stone and Accabonac Highways, and Robert Mojo’s “Synopsis” at the East Hampton Town Marina. 

A reception, with the sculptors on hand to talk about their work, will take place at Ashawagh Hall on Saturday from 5 to 7:30 p.m. The other participating artists are Gustavo Bonevardi, Michael Chiarello, James DeMartis, Elaine Grove, Phyllis Hammond, Bill Kiriazis, Robert Leibel, Dennis Leri, Bo Parsons, Paul Pavia, Aurelio Torres, and Steve Zaluski. 

Maps will be available at the reception and on the Summer of Sculpture Facebook page. The exhibition, which was organized by Loring Bolger and curated by Christina Strassfield, will remain on view through Nov. 15.

 

New at Rental Gallery

An exhibition of painting and sculpture by Henry Taylor, Zachary Armstrong, and Matthew Chambers is on view at the Rental Gallery in East Hampton through Aug. 28. As part of the show, a recently completed documentary about Mr. Taylor made by Mr. Chambers will be shown Fridays through Sundays at 3 p.m. and by appointment.

Mr. Chambers and Mr. Taylor live and work in Los Angeles, Mr. Armstrong is based in Dayton, Ohio. All three “have shaped my character, my vision, my person,” said Joel Mesler, the gallery’s owner.

 

Young and Local

Art Space 98 in East Hampton will present solo exhibitions of work by Tanya K. Willock and Miles Partington from tomorrow through Sept. 4. A reception will be held Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m.

Ms. Willock’s “Normal Condition” is a group of photographs taken during the summer of 2016, when she was visiting Antigua, her family’s native island and the burial place of her grandmother. She is also showing a small collection of wall hangings made with her sister Temidra, a textile designer.

Mr. Partington, who was an intern in the studio of the late Bill King, has shown his sculpture in venues from Sag Harbor to Seattle. He uses everyday and often overlooked elements that he transforms into unique, mysterious, and often funny tableaux featuring animals and the occasional human.

Both artists grew up in East Hampton, where they now live.

 

Kristy Schopper in Montauk

“Spot On,” an exhibition of paintings by Kristy Schopper, will open at the Woodbine Collection in Montauk with a reception on Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. and continue through Sept. 24.

Ms. Schopper, who has lived in East Hampton since 2013, works with oil, acrylic, tempera, sumi ink, and fist-sized chunks of charcoal to create works that range from abstract to realist. Having once read that when artists fall in love with something they paint it over and over, she acknowledges that American flags, soaring tulips, flying pigs, puzzles, storms, and skies, rendered with generous helpings of paint, are recurring motifs in her work.

 

New Pottery at Ille

Bob Golden, a multi-talented musician and composer from Springs who exhibited his pottery at Ille Arts in Amagansett last fall, has created a new line of porcelain vases made especially for the gallery. He will be on hand to introduce the work there on Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m. 

 

At Nature Conservancy

“Wednesday Wonders,” an exhibition of work by the Wednesday Group of plein-air painters, is view at the Nature Conservancy in East Hampton through Aug. 24, with a reception set for Saturday from 4 to 6 p.m.

Participating artists are Bobbie Braun, Pat DeTullio, Anna Franklin, Barbara Jones, Teresa Lawler, Deb Palmer, Alyce Peifer, Gene Samuelson, Christine Chew Smith, Cynthia Sobel, Frank Sofo, Bob Sullivan, Aurelio Torres, and Dan Weidmann.

Illuminating Pollock’s Process at Guild Hall

Illuminating Pollock’s Process at Guild Hall

The disjointed body parts and other forms in this untitled engraving from about 1944 are similar to the vestiges of figures in Jackson Pollock’s paintings and drawings of the same period.
The disjointed body parts and other forms in this untitled engraving from about 1944 are similar to the vestiges of figures in Jackson Pollock’s paintings and drawings of the same period.
Jackson Pollock worked out the ideas for his paintings, including the poured works, not with sketches but through prints, including a large number of serigraphs
By
Mark Segal

While Jackson Pollock’s poured and dripped paintings emerged in the late 1940s, his road there passed through, among others, Thomas Hart Benton, Picasso, Surrealists, and the Mexican mural painters, one of whom, David Alfaro Siqueiros, introduced him in 1936 to pouring and dripping liquid paint.

What is perhaps less well known is that he worked out the ideas for his paintings, including the poured works, not with sketches but through prints, including a large number of serigraphs. 

In the brochure for a 1995 exhibition at the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, the art historian Francis V. O’Connor wrote, “Pollock’s serigraphs, while a minor aspect of his oeuvre in comparison to the major paintings and drawings he created throughout his career, nevertheless served as rehearsals for the forms and effects he utilized in those masterpieces.” 

“Jackson Pollock: The Graphic Works,” which will open at Guild Hall in East Hampton on Saturday and continue through Oct. 9, includes seven engravings from original plates made by Pollock in 1944 and 1945, and seven serigraphs from screens made by his brother Sanford in 1951. All the works belong to the Pollock-Krasner Foundation.

“While Pollock experimented with prints, it was not a medium he fully embraced,” according to Christina Strassfield, Guild Hall’s museum director and chief curator, who organized the exhibition. “He did not continually do prints, like Roy Lichtenstein, for example, who always did paintings and prints at the same time. In Pollock’s prints you see more control, more within the frame, as opposed to his mature paintings when he was working much more loosely on the floor.”

The prints in the exhibition are not the original ones he worked on. They were done posthumously under the supervision of his widow, Lee Krasner, in 1964 from the original copperplates and screens. 

Helen Harrison, the director of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, noted that Pollock never made editions of the engravings. “He only pulled proofs. The proofs in various states and the plates themselves are in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art. As far as we know, the screens no longer exist.”

From a small edition of roughly 25 of the screen prints, a portfolio of six was for sale at Pollock’s 1951 exhibition at the Betty Parsons gallery. “They weren’t popular, and they didn’t sell,” Ms. Harrison said. “Pollock had a bunch of them. We have home movie footage from 1953 of three of them for sale at the Fisherman’s Fair for $50. Lee is holding one up for the camera.” 

Ms. Harrison will have a print from the posthumous edition at Ashawagh Hall in Springs on Friday, the day before this year’s Fisherman’s Fair, for the 6 p.m. ceremonial investiture of Pollock as an honorary Bonacker. She will also give a free gallery talk on the exhibition on Aug. 19 at noon. Registration, which is required, is through Guild Hall’s website.

Comedy, Music, and Ballet

Comedy, Music, and Ballet

At the Hampton International Film Festival’s screening of “Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton” on Friday at Gurney’s Resort in Montauk, Mr. Hamilton discussed the film with Rory Kennedy, its director, and Alec Baldwin.
At the Hampton International Film Festival’s screening of “Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton” on Friday at Gurney’s Resort in Montauk, Mr. Hamilton discussed the film with Rory Kennedy, its director, and Alec Baldwin.
Jackie Pape
A busy weekend at Guild Hall
By
Star Staff

This weekend will be a busy one at Guild Hall, with its annual summer party tomorrow evening and two new art exhibitions opening on Saturday. 

Nothing stops the juggernaut of its John Drew Theater, however, which will turn over its stage on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. to JB Smoove, a writer, comedian, and actor perhaps best known for his role as Leon on “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

Mr. Smoove’s unique comedic talents have been deployed on television, at stand-up venues, as a co-star in films with Chris Rock, Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Johan Hill, Matt Damon, and Sasha Baron Cohen, among others, and as an award-winning writer on “Saturday Night Live.” Tickets range from $45 to $100, $43 to $95 for members.

The string quartet Ethel, artists in residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, will perform an eclectic program of music on Sunday evening at 8. Consisting of Ralph Farris (viola), Dorothy Lawson (cello), Kip Jones (violin), and Corin Lee (violin), the group has performed the work of such innovative composers as Philip Glass, John Zorn, Steve Reich, Don Byron, and Terry Riley. 

Sunday’s program will include “The Wanderer’s Tale,” a new composition commissioned by the group from Bruce Wolosoff, the Shelter Island composer who was recently made a trustee of Guild Hall. Tickets are $25 to $75, $23 to $70 for members.

Only a few tickets remain as of press time for “New York City Ballet: On and Off Stage,” which will make its annual appearance at Guild Hall on Friday, Aug. 18, at 8 p.m. The program will feature principal dancer Jared Angle, who will present excerpts from the company’s repertoire. Tickets are $45 to $100, $43 to $95 for members.

Bill Porter at Bay Street

Bill Porter at Bay Street

At Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theater
By
Star Staff

Billy Porter, a Tony and Grammy Award-winning singer, composer, actor, and playwright, will present an evening of songs and stories from his career on and Off Broadway at Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theater on Monday at 8 p.m., as part of the venue’s ongoing Music Mondays series.

Mr. Porter’s many Broadway credits include “Kinky Boots,” which landed him the 2013 Tony Award for best lead actor in a musical; “Miss Saigon,” “Smokey Joe’s Cafe,” and “Dreamgirls.” Tickets range from $69 to $125, with only a few seats available as of press time.

Fun for Everyone at Discover Watermill Center Day

Fun for Everyone at Discover Watermill Center Day

One of several interactive performance pieces that were presented on the grounds of Watermill Center during its benefit last month, which might be reprised for Discover Watermill Day on Sunday.
One of several interactive performance pieces that were presented on the grounds of Watermill Center during its benefit last month, which might be reprised for Discover Watermill Day on Sunday.
At the Watermill Center
By
Star Staff

The Watermill Center will open its doors Sunday from 3 to 6 p.m. for an afternoon of art installations, performances, workshops, tours, and family activities both inside the center and on its eight-and-a-half landscaped acres. “Discover Watermill Day 2017” provides an opportunity for the East End community to meet and see the work of artists from more than 30 countries who are participating in the center’s International Summer Program. Admission is free, and reservations are not required.