The Arts Center at Duck Creek in Springs will open its 2024 season with two exhibitions, “Natalie Edgar: 1970s Paintings” and “Francisco Daniel Cabrera: (Chemical) Paradise,” on Saturday. Receptions will be held on May 11 from 5 to 7 p.m.
Organized by Juan Puntes, a curator and art consultant, Ms. Edgar’s show highlights her singular approach to art with a selection of abstract paintings that earned her a reputation as an artist who defied convention, according to a release. In her own words, she “deepened the experience and continuity of the [picture] plane as treated in early Abstract Expressionism, expanding its power.”
Her career as a painter began at Brooklyn College, where she studied with Mark Rothko. Influenced as well by Ad Reinhardt, one of her teachers, her friends Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline, and her husband, Philip Pavia, a renowned sculptor and co-founder of The Club, she emerged as a formidable presence in the art world. She was also an art critic for ARTnews from 1959 to 1973.
In 1978, Ms. Edgar, her husband, and their two sons moved their studio barn from Southold, on the North Fork, across Peconic Bay to Squaw Road in Springs, just a stone’s throw from the Arts Center at Duck Creek.
“We are honored to share the work of our distinguished neighbor,” Jess Frost, the center’s executive director, said. “Her imagery is a testament to her mastery of color and the activation of negative space. Her compositions feature striking color paths that captivate the viewer.”
Mr. Cabrera was born in Ecuador in 1989 and has lived in East Hampton since 2009. His “(Chemical) Paradise” series was triggered by a mundane transaction while working at a gas station in Amagansett in 2015. He noticed the transformation of color on a receipt caused by accidental smears of hand sanitizer.
Back in his studio, he began weaving rolls of receipt paper into larger sheets. By activating the thermal material with chemicals and pigments, he was able to create vibrant realms beneath the uniform white paper.
The results suggest both Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism, as unusual substances conjure fantastical worlds by allowing chemical reactions to happen organically.
Through his choice of materials, “viewers are prompted to contemplate the interplay of chemicals with contemporary American life, juxtaposing the concealed existences beneath the surface of those residing in an ‘American Paradise’ with those who seek it through immigration,” according to the arts center.
Both exhibitions will run through June 2. The arts center is open Thursdays through Sundays from 2 to 6 p.m.
