Painting is making a serious appearance in Hamptons galleries and offers a range of contemporary art. The options include still life, landscape, figurative and abstraction pulling from traditions that include Abstract Expressionism, Realism, contemporary abstraction, contemporary Impressionism and more. Linking all the shows is an accomplished command of technique, execution and composition resulting in shows that reveal what's possible in painting.
"Cornelia Foss: New Paintings" at Peter Marcelle Project
June 6 to June 21, 2015
Cornelia Foss is a returning favorite for Peter Marcelle Project. This time, the work centers on seascapes and natural scenes. Paintings are installed upon the three walls of the cavernous gallery along with works set upon the window ledge for passersby to enjoy. Even from the street, the paintings beckon like an oasis.
Foss is a painterly realist with a career that spans over 50 years and is held in major museum collections. It's clear that Foss knows what she's doing. An expert in color and the merging of realism with abstract expressionism, it's easy to enjoy the art work and leave the 'why' to the intellectuals.
In Cornelia Foss's paintings, broad stretches of nature draw the eye and composition details beckon viewers to notice and stay a while. Brushstrokes can be loose; details sometimes implied. Paintings are drenched in rich color and resonate with emotional possibilities. These are a few subtle examples of why Foss is a master.
This fall, look for the release of the latest book on her work: Cornelia Foss: A Retrospective, published by Rizzoli. Also upcoming is a solo exhibition at Guild Hall museum.
Meanwhile, see her most recent paintings now at Peter Marcelle Project.
Peter Marcelle Project is located at 4 North Main Street, Southampton, NY 11968. www.petermarcelleproject.com.
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"Bridgehampton Beach" by Cornelia Foss, 2014. Oil on canvas, 50 x 50 inches.
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"Sarah Lamb: Latest Works" at Grenning Gallery
June 18 to July 12, 2015
Opening Reception: June 20 from 6 to 8 p.m.
Opening this weekend is a solo show by classic realism painter Sarah Lamb. Dark contemporary and compelling, Lamb switches up what's expected for classical still live painting. Her new works channel America, according to the gallery, through her choice of subjects and the geographic influences for her poetic realism paintings.
Expect to find paintings elevating weathervanes, hydrangeas, lobster, mussels, copper pots, pears and more. The paintings reflect a simplification of Lamb's previous palettes and composition design, according the gallery. Her paintings reflect influences from European illusionistic still life and tromp l'oeil and radiate atmosphere, mood and emotion, states gallerist Laura Grenning.
The solo show opens on Saturday.
Grenning Gallery is located at 17 Washington Street, Sag Harbor, NY 11963. www.grenninggallery.com.
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"Chocolate Cake and Milk" by Sarah Lamb, 2015. Oil, 18 x 25 inches.
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"People, Places and Things" by Don Christensen at Ille Arts
June 13 to June 30, 2015
Don Christensen presents his second solo exhibition at ILLE Arts with a series of small paintings. Colorful and rhythmic, the paintings are colorful, vibrant and drenched with a sense of play.
All of the works on view were painted by Christensen in his Springs studio, located near East Hampton Village. An artist assistant in the studios of Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, Larry Poons and Larry Zox, Christensen painted and made music as a professional drummer and musician in New York City for decades.
Don Christensen's artworks seem to portray moments of optimism and the up side of life. The paintings feel narrative...as if fantastical journeys, striped skies and topsy-turvy landscapes witnessed along the way are expected parts of living.
Influenced by what falls before his eyes during daily life along with geometry, Christensen is also inspired by the symmetry and implied musical rhythm found in Native American textiles.
Locally, Christensen's work has been exhibited at the Parrish Art Museum as part of their biennial. His work is collected extensively in the United States and Europe.
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"Sister's Montains III" by Don Christensen, 2015. Acrylic on panel, artist framed, 22 X 30 inches.
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Ille Arts is located at 216a Main Street, Amagansett, NY 11930. www.illearts.com.
"Skin Deep" at RJD Gallery
May 30 to June 21, 2015
RJD Gallery switched things up for their first group show of the season. Instead of focusing on the works of a few artists, the gallery is presenting a full range of gallery artists--revealing new painters along with their tried and true. All of the paintings are figurative in the narrative realm of magical realism. The show is organized around the theme of manifestation of inner beauty and its outer counterpart.
The painters differ from each other—sometimes dramatically—but each demonstrates mastery of paint and composition. Expect to find portraiture and narrative paintings that pull from a cross-section of art history corners. Taken together, "Skin Deep" provides a crash course in the possibilities of contemporary American imaginative and magical realism.
RJD Gallery is located at 90 Main Street, Sag Harbor NY 11963. www.rjdgallery.com.
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"Late July" by Adrienne Stein. Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 20 inches.
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"Under Water Color" by Mike Solomon at Kathryn Markel Fine Arts
May 30 to June 21, 2015
If you've been hurrying along the sidewalks of Bridgehampton after jockeying for parking, the solo show by Mike Solomon may take you by surprise. The mixed media paintings are quiet and patient. They will wait until tension leaves and their subtle palettes begin to beckon. Wait even a bit longer until their full power alights: many of the paintings are difficult to forget.
"Under Water Color" presents a series of new works by Mike Solomon. Carrying with him a love of the ocean and the grid, watercolors combine with layers of resin to create a new way for Solomon to also explore light. Minimalistic, the works radiate shimmers of soft color that seems glimpsed from beneath clear water.
This weekend is the final chance to see the show. Make a stop in your weekend plans.
Kathryn Markel Fine Arts is located at 2418 Montauk Hwy Bridgehampton, NY 11932. www.markelfinearts.com.
RELATED: "ART REVIEW: Quiet Beauty Whispered in Mike Solomon’s “Under Water Color” by James Croak. Published June 9, 2015.
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"Elysium" by Mike Solomon, 2015. Watercolor on rice paper with epoxy, 24 x 48 inches.
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"Kelsey Brookes: Plants of the Gods" at Eric Firestone Gallery
June 20 to July 7, 2015
Opening: June 20 from 6 to 9 p.m.
The San Diego painter Kelsey Brookes opens a two-week show at Eric Firestone Gallery on Saturday. Brookes's paintings co-join science and spirituality in framed shaped canvases. Bold and intricate, patterns call the eye but something deeper is afoot.
The show presents new monumental paintings based on Brookes’ scientific investigations into nature’s ancient botanical compounds and the relationship between plants and humans. The paintings are intricate and vibrant with visually-stimulating compositions that invoke nature, mysticism, science and op art.
A microbiologist, surfer and self-taught painter, Brookes enjoys meditating on complexities, according to the gallery: the nature of existence and perception, Hindu and Buddhist deities, science and philosophy, as well as fractals and math-based patterns. These passions translate into obsessively detailed abstractions that relate to chemical composition and brain activity.
Brookes’ molecular paintings pull from pointillism and op art. They begin as molecular line drawings that expand outward. The delicate line work seems to create a self-contained world of its own while still channeling the disciplines of science and spirituality to live interconnected with ease.
The show opens this weekend and is expected to draw a crowd.
Kelsey Brookes is featured as the cover art for the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 2012 “I’m With You” 7″ records and The Flaming Lips’ 2013 “Stone Roses” LP. He has collaborated with RVCA, VANS, Insight 51 and others on pervasive public projects.
In addition, his art is included in collections held by the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Frederick R. Weisman Foundation and important private collections.
Eric Firestone Gallery is located at 4 Newtown Lane, East Hampton, NY 11937. www.ericfirestonegallery.com.
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"Ellipse No. 3" by Kelsey Brookes, 2015. Acrylic on canvas, 99 x 51.25 inches.
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