Maryam Eisler at Harper’s
“Summer of 69,” a solo exhibition of photographs by Maryam Eisler, a London-based photographer and author, will open Saturday at Harper’s Gallery in East Hampton with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. The show, which will run through June 30, coincides with the release of Eisler’s new book, also titled “Summer of 69.”
Though photographed in the present, the book is “a love letter to the late ’60s/early ’70s, an era of carefree elegance, heightened sensuality, and a romanticized idea of beauty,” says Eisler.
While the locations include Montauk (the “Lunch” restaurant on Napeague and a “Montauk cowboy”) and Palm Beach (palm trees, tennis courts, swimming pools), there are also tableaus featuring breakfast cereals, bedrooms, peacock chairs, and mah-jongg tiles, all populated by attractive but slightly louche models.
“Maryam Eisler occupies a unique space in contemporary photography,” said Harper Levine, the gallery’s proprietor. “As a natural heir to ‘Good Life’ photographers like Slim Aarons and Arthur Elgort, Eisler’s work in ‘Summer of 69’ both amplifies and subverts historical tropes of glamour and femininity.”
Book Launch at Guild Hall
Alice Baber, an abstract painter who died at the age of 54 in 1982, was celebrated enough during her life to see her work enter the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum, and, closer to her Sag Harbor home, Guild Hall.
It is fitting, then, that Guild Hall will launch “Alice Baber: An Artist’s Triumph Over Tragedy,” a new biography by the art historian and biographer Gail Levin, on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Levin, the biographer also of Edward Hopper, Judy Chicago, and Lee Krasner, traces Baber’s artistic development, her place in the midcentury art world, and the forces that contributed to her later obscurity.
Citing the rediscovery of Baber’s “luscious, lambent paintings,” Booklist said, “Levin’s scrupulously detailed and incisive portrait will ensure enduring and informed appreciation.”
Tickets are $25.
Group Show at Firestone
“General Assembly,” an exhibition of 25 contemporary artists working across ceramics, glass, painting, sculpture, and textiles, can be seen at Eric Firestone Gallery in East Hampton through June 28.
The show, which explores themes of cross-cultural folklore, the environment, social spaces, and digital mapping, includes work by Miguel Arzabe, Sarah Braman, Kadar Brock, Ann Carrington, Lauren dela Roche, Elise Ferguson, Beverly Fishman, Michelle Flores, Michael Georgetti, Colleen Herman, Hûe Thi Hoffmaster, Brad Kahlhamer, Fitzhugh Karol, Megan Koons, Andrew Kuo, Fared Manzur, Lindsay Mapes, Simphiwe Ndzube, Virginie Pernot, Toni Ross, Bruce M. Sherman, Almo Talud, Alix Vernet, Lotte Wieringa, and Rob Wynne.
Literal and Social Climates
The Springs Community Library will open “Climate,” a show organized by Beth Barry and Laurie Hall, on Sunday, with a reception from 11 to 1. It will run through July 12.
“We wanted to challenge the artists to think about ‘climate’ as the atmosphere of our lives,” said Barry. “From the literal environmental shifts we see on the East End to the social and emotional climates that define our shared human experience, this show is a reflection of the bold, multifaceted perspectives within our own backyard.”
Exhibiting artists are Mary Antczak, Kirsten Benfield, Gary Chiappa, Francine Connors, Steven Corsano, Zoe Denahy, Barbara DiLorenzo, Liz Engelhardt, Patricia Feiwel, Elizabeth Geissler, Kurt Giehl, Gerry Giliberti, John Haubrich, Bill Kiriazis, Teresa Lawler, Geralyne Lewandowski, Christa Maiwald, Laura Marino, Joanlee Montefusco, Iliana Ortega, Dainis Saulitis, Christina Schlesinger, Andréa Sher, Karen Simon, and Bob Sullivan.
Printmakers at Ashawagh
“Fresh Off the Press,” a three-day exhibition celebrating the art of printmaking on the East End, will open at Ashawagh Hall in Springs Friday with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m.
The show features monoprints and mixed media prints by Andréa Sher, Laurie Hall, Setha Low, John Wittenberg, Barbara DiLorenzo, Kirsten Benfield, Nancy Brody, Justin Greenwald, Samuel Havens, Sue Bachemin, Dan Welden, Stacie Sinder, Ann Duggan, William Broich, Kerry Sharkey-Miller, and Cynthia DiGiacomo.
Four Realist Painters
“Summer’s Here,” an exhibition featuring the work of four classically trained realist painters, will open at the Grenning Gallery in Sag Harbor with a reception on Saturday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. It will continue through June 21.
Steven Levin brings a surrealist sensibility to carefully created compositions, while Sarah Lamb creates “lush, decadent still-life paintings,” according to the gallery. The human figure, alone, in crowds, or in somewhat mysterious tableaus, is the focus of Steven Assael’s paintings, while David Saunders uses bold colors and an incising technique that carves into the surface of his canvases.
Drone Photographs
The Geri Bauer Gallery at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton will open “Nature From Above,” a show of aerial photographs by Joanna Steidle, with a reception Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. Curated by Ryan Zwick, it will remain on view through July 30.
Steidle began flying drones commercially around 2017. Her company, Hamptons Drone Art, specializes in fine-art drone photography and videography focusing on marine life, coastal abstracts, and ocean conservation. Her images feature aerial views of whales, sharks, rays, dolphins, schools of menhaden, birds, marshes, and coastal patterns.
At the gallery on June 13 at 4 p.m., Steidle will discuss her blending of artistic expression with environmental advocacy.
Happy Birthday, Hans
Hans Van de Bovenkamp, an acclaimed sculptor whose large-scale abstract work is a familiar part of the South Fork landscape, will open his Sagaponack studio Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. to celebrate his 88th birthday. The event will showcase the art of Christine Matthäi, Adi Oren, Josh Dayton, and Gabriel Junemann, as well as his own work.
The show can be seen by appointment until June 23, via email to [email protected]. The studio and grounds are at Merchants Path and Ranch Court; entrance is through the pink gates on Ranch Court.
