Before looking forward to 2016, Hamptons Art Hub has taken a look at the art scene for 2015 and selected the Top Art Exhibitions in The Hamptons. Presented in no particular order, following are 12 exhibitions that made our list for the best art shows in 2015.
1. "Dan Rizzie" at The Drawing Room
Selected by: Eric Ernst & Pat Rogers
Exhibited: July 9 - August 3, 2015
Summary: A solo show by Dan Rizzie that occupied the major galleries in The Drawing Room in East Hampton.
Why selected - Eric Ernst: "This exhibition serves as a retrospective of this artist’s work in the realms of prints, etchings, and intaglios stretching back to 1989. While many in the commercial arena of the contemporary art scene often denigrate print work, this exhibit highlighted Rizzie’s avenues of lyrical inventiveness as the artist melds elements of modernism, abstraction, and international influences that stretch from the Caribbean to the Middle East."
Why selected - Pat Rogers: "Dan Rizzie" was a show that surprised. One of the sleepers of the summer, the solo show was a thorough retrospective that revealed some of the best of Dan Rizzie's work, tracing a path from Rizzie's beginnings through the present and pointing the way to where the Hamptons artist may travel next."
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"Lotus" by Dan Rizzie, 1989. Lithograph, chine colle, 37 x 29 inches.
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2. “Womanhouse” at Eric Firestone Gallery
Selected by: Pat Rogers
Exhibited: May 23 – June 14, 2015
Summary: The group show featured art by 21 female artists, co-curated by Eric Firestone (Eric Firestone Gallery of East Hampton) and Michelle Tillou (Kinz + Tillou Fine Art of Brooklyn).
Why selected: A bright, bouncy and sometimes colorful show with some edge, "Womanhouse" paired feminist art history with works revealing the diverse art practices of contemporary female artists to create an exhibition rich with meaning. Inspired by the 1972 exhibition "Womanhouse", organized by Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro, the show at Eric Firestone Gallery was connected conceptually through the "dignifying" of material within an art practice." The show was visually intriguing and ripe with material (bandages, dining room table, ribboned plexiglas, fabric twine and more). Instead of resting on its conceptual theme, the curators filled the gallery with strong artworks, each standing on its own while speaking clearly to the art installed gallerywide.
Eric Firestone Gallery is located at 4 Newtown Lane, East Hampton, NY 11937. www.ericfirestonegallery.com.
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"The Beauty of Summer" by Miriam Schapiro, 1973-74. Acrylic and Fabric on Canvas. 50 x 70 inches.
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3. "Andreas Gursky: Landscapes" at the Parrish Art Museum
Selected by: James Croak
Exhibited: August 2- October 18, 2015
Summary: A solo show of photography by German artist Andreas Gursky.
Why selected: "This art star photographer is more known in Europe than here despite his 2001 MOMA show in NYC. Additionally, he has taken a new strange direction of adding cartoon characters to his work so we are seeing an experiment in progress."
Read a review here. Read a story on Gursky's works at auction here.
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"Tour de France" by Andreas Gursky, 2007. C-print, 121 x 86 ¼ inches.
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4. “¡Cuba, Cuba! 65 Years of Photography” at Southampton Arts Center
Selected by: James Croak
Exhibited: August 13 - September 7, 2015
Summary: A group show composed of over 100 photographs from the 1950s to the present, made by over 20 Cuban photographers. Organized by ICP (International Center of Photography of New York).
Why selected: "This upstart arts organization routinely betters the institution that previously occupied their digs on Jobs lane. This curated show is a good example: Cuban photography from the Castro-led revolution that turned an island paradise into a third world dystopia, one where the average monthly wage decayed to $20. Now that the border is almost open once again it was fascinating to view the late 50’s transition to communism."
Read a review here.
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Unidentified photographer, Hollywood actors Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor at the Sloppy Joe's bar, Havana, 1950s.
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5. “Scott McIntire: Environmental Intimacy on the East End” at Peter Marcelle Project
Selected by: Charles A. Riley II
Exhibited: August 15 - 23, 2015
Summary: A solo show of art by North Fork artist Scott McIntire.
Why selected: "With consummate skill and a timely sense of the global environmental crisis, Greenport-based painter Scott McIntire’s solo show at Peter Marcelle Project was a solid success. It presented large, complex paintings replete with captivating troves of imagery rendered by a virtuoso."
Read a review here.
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"Perils of a Pollinator" by Scott McIntire. Enamel on canvas. Courtesy of the artist.
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6. "East Hampton: Forty Somethings" at Allouche Gallery
Selected by: Pat Rogers
Exhibited: June 2, 2015 – June 30, 2015
Summary: A group show of artists working in the street art tradition.
Why selected: The discovery of Allouche Gallery and its first East Hampton show were both unexpected pleasures. Opening in June in East Hampton (and remaining through the summer), "Forty Something" featured art by seven artists between the ages of 40 and 50. The exhibiting artists are well-known (Bast, Shepard Fairey, Faile, Marco Guerra, Paul Insect, Ryan McGinness and Romon Yang) but that's not what grabbed me. The art selected frequently revealed a new direction or exploration by the artist. The show would have been solid for a New York City audience and was especially refreshing for a Hamptons one.
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"Untitled" by Paul Insect, 2015. Acrylic on 12 oz Duck cotton canvas, 72.2 x 54.3 x 1.6 inches.
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7. "Art Southampton" at Nova’s Ark
Selected by: James Croak
Exhibited: July 9 - 13, 2015
Summary: A contemporary and modern art fair, one of three presented annually in July in The Hamptons.
Why selected: "This large fair is well put together with excellent facilities and good art in general, they tend toward the raucous both here and Miami which sets them apart from more staid art fairs."
Read a review here.
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"Tight Rope Walking For People With Complicated Lives" by Emily E. Halpern, 2011. Oil on linen, 55 x 55 inches.
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8. "Roy Lichtenstein: Between Sea and Sky" at Guild Hall
Selected by: Charles A. Riley II
Exhibited: August 8 - October 12, 2015
Summary: A solo show of Roy Lichtenstein revealing his interest in landscape and highlighted Lichtenstein's use of new material and technology to make his art.
Why selected: "This scholarly triumph shed new light on a Pop master who started visiting the East End in 1967. In addition to expanding our understanding of Lichtenstein through works in unusual materials, including “kinetic” wall reliefs, it reconstructed a giant mural that had been missing for decades."
Read a review here.
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"Water Lilies with Japanese Bridge" by Roy Lichtenstein, 1992. Screenprinted enamel on stainless steel, 83 1/4 x 58 inches. Private collection. © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein.
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9. “Jane Freilicher and Jane Wilson: Seen and Unseen” at the Parrish Art Museum
Selected by: Eric Ernst & Charles A. Riley II
Exhibited: October 25 - January 18, 2015
Summary: A two-person show revealing the art of a pair of friends who made art in The Hamtpons for decades.
Why selected by Eric Ernst: "While the two artists were close friends for many years, the title references Jane Freilicher’s turn away from abstraction toward figurative imagery while Jane Wilson, who never completely eschewed a type of realism, moved closer to abstraction as she attempted to portray emotional sensations rather than literal details in her landscape works. The Parrish exhibition masterfully emphasizes the stylistic variations between the two even as it illuminates those areas where the two overlapped in terms of their use of light and space."
Why selected by Charles A. Riley II: "Celebrating an intimate circle with talent for art as well as friendship, this dual portrait of Jane Freilicher and Jane Wilson pulsed with the colors of their paintings and the echoes of their laughter. The curatorial touch was deft and the catalogue was marvelous from cover to cover."
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"Flowers and Pine Trees" by Jane Freilicher, 1983. Oil on linen, 33 x 41 inches. Collection of Jim Tarica.
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10. “East End Collected” at the Southampton Arts Center
Selected by: Eric Ernst
Exhibited: April 24 - May 17, 2015
Summary: A group show of art held by private collectors (mostly) that were made by artists based in The Hamptons and East End. Curated by artist Paton Miller of Southampton.
Why selected: "Curated by well-known local artist Paton Miller and consisting of works by area artists drawn mostly from private collections, the exhibit accentuated the remarkable pool of talent in the artist community of the East End of Long Island and that community’s ongoing strength as a center of creative energy and vitality."
11. “Frost Bite: A Show by Peter Anton” at Gallery Valentine
Selected by: Pat Rogers
Exhibited: July 30 - August 13, 2015
Summary: Solo show of wall sculptures by Peter Anton.
Why selected: It's easy to let the enjoyment of spying an oversized ice popsicle on a summer day stop you from taking it in as art. "Frost Bite" changed this when it presented a "freezer" full of Peter Anton's frozen desserts in a themed solo show of cold confections curated in the main gallery of Gallery Valentine. The show provided a unique opportunity to get up close and personal with Anton's pop art and appreciate the masterful details that goes into creating sculpture of realism. Even up close, Anton's mixed media works felt like that would be cold to the touch and sweet to the taste.
Sculpture by Peter Anton.
12. "The revolution hasn't started..." at RJD Gallery
Selected by: Pat Rogers
Exhibited: June 27 - July 19, 2015
Summary: A themed group show of contemporary realism painters.
"Gentrification" by Adam Miller. Oil on linen, 48 x 60 inches. Courtesy RJD Gallery.
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