It's not easy to see a vast cross section of art being made on Long Island in a single sitting. In fact, it's an impossible dream, considering the breathe of artists working situated across four counties, sitting upon 118 miles (from the New York Harbor to Montauk) and a near 23 mile span across Long Island from the Atlantic Ocean to the Long Island Sound. The Patchogue Arts Council decided to focus on two of the four Long Island Counties (Nassau and Suffolk) and issue a call for art to take the temperature of what's happening in contemporary art right now and to try and foster community among the suburban towns of Long Island.
The results can be seen in Slide Slam: a gathering of artists who each give a five-minute slide show presentation and discuss their projected art to audiences in three art galleries and one museum. The 2018-19 edition featured 77 artists with presentations held at the Patchogue Arts Council Gallery (Patchogue); Stony Brook University Gallery at the Staller Center (Stony Brook); the Heckscher Art Museum (Huntington) and Haven Gallery (Northport).
The final presentations are winding their way through and will be presented on March 30, 2019 from 3 to 6 p.m. at Haven Gallery in Northport, NY and on April 6, 2019 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Patchogue Arts Council Gallery in Patchogue, NY. The next call for artists is expected to open in Late Summer 2019.
Hamptons Art Hub has been a media sponsor for the program since inception, when it was launched by Beth Giacummo in 2012 while staff at the Islip Art Museum. To help debut the program, she reached out to the newly-formed Greenport-based artist collective Emerge.LI to co-present. Hamptons Art Hub continued its support for the program when Giacummo revived the Slide Slam in 2016 in her capacity as Executive Director for the Patchogue Arts Council, who has hosted the program annually since.
To help broaden the reach of the 2018-19 Slide Slam, Hamptons Art Hub is presenting a single artwork from each participating artist paired with an excerpt from their supplied Artist Statement. Unfolding in a series of weekly stories, the first installment features six artists who participated in the 2018 Slide Slam Kickoff event on December 1, 2018 at the Patchogue Arts Council Gallery in Patchogue, NY.
Barry Feuerstein
The common thread of primitive/modern concepts runs throughout my work…This series of paintings & photographs are inspired by themes of the universe; Particle Physics, Golden Section, String Theory and Fibonacci Theory. In the paintings and photographs I’ve used vibrant colors including copper, cadmium red, and white to increase the physical and emotional intensity within the work. The works speaks to the subtle spiritual quality of color with the close ups magnifications that stimulate the imagination and intensify the abstract nature of the art.
.
"Turquoise" by Barry Feuerstein, 2018. Oil on canvas, 36 x 72 inches. Courtesy Slide Slam and Patchogue Arts Council.
.
Candice Licaliz
My paintings are about self-reflection and bear the harsh complexities of a painful adolescence led by childhood bullying and not quite fitting in to the societal norms....Society can make us feel intimidated to be ourselves, as well as give worth to our natural bodies.
I decided to work with my own body as the recurring subject... which can also connect to text from my personal journals. My self-portraits are composed of distorted self-images, intended to make the viewer reflect on their own flaws which can be frightening to discuss as well as expose.
My multi-media approach involves the use of photography, layers of under-painting and constructive drawing, which is painted over with numerous layers of oil washes and glazes. This allows inner struggles to be formed into visual expression. I’ve lived these emotions and have now created a viable receptacle of discovery in which to express and document them.
.
"Untitled" by Candice Licalzi, 2016. Oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches. Courtesy Slide Slam and Patchogue Arts Council.
.
Jay Sylvester
This work is an attempt to take my anxiety over chaos and our disconnection with nature and each other and make that feeling tactile. I try to capture, contain and attain a fragile balance and brutal, yet delicate, tension— the unease that it can all blow apart at any moment. To embrace, not run away from the fact we all succumb to entropy. And no matter how we try to resist and avoid it, we are all detritus and dust in the end.
.
"The World is Too Much With Us" by Jay Sylvester, 2018. Mixed Media, 24 x 36 inches. Courtesy Slide Slam and the Patchogue Arts Council.
.
Jim Sabiston
Defined by their isolated nature, places of hard delineated edges and borders, islands are spaces whose boundaries are set by natures elemental forces of wind and water. Long Island is no exception to this simple truism and Long Island's history is a long running relationship between nature and man as the primary shapers of this place. And we, in our turn, are also defined and sculpted by nature and the character of the Island.
A predilection towards broad panoramic vistas in "The Island" series tells the story of life at this impermanent edge and hints at the true scale of the natural world beyond land’s end. The great, open presence of the sea and sky and nature’s unlimited power and spirit underlies all.
Even in the face of our modernity, the presence of the sea is the defining characteristic of Long Island, where the sea’s presence is never very far away. Sensitive to the history that underlies the Island we see today, both manmade and natural, Jim Sabiston has begun recording his Romantic vision of the modern Long Island in the ‘Island’ Series of Limited Edition art prints.
To see more of Jim Sabiston's art, visit his Artist Page at Hamptons Art Hub by clicking here.
.
"The Pattersquash Gun Club" by Jim Sabiston. Limited Edition Archival Pigment Print, 18 x 45 inches. Courtesy Slide Slam and the Patchogue Arts Council.
.
John Lazzaro
My recent photographic work includes a series of photos documenting the decades of neglect and decay of the 111 year history of the Kings Park Psychiatric Center in Kings Park, NY. With influences such as architectural photographer Christopher Payne, I am to take a fresh and introspective look at what was one of the largest mental institutions in the U.S.
Since I was young, I have always been fascinated by history and storytelling. I wanted to embrace Long Island history in part by focusing on the interior and exterior architecture of the Kings Park Psychiatric Center and tell the story of the hospital through photos.
Lazzaro specializes in documentary filmmaking and photography including people, birds and abandoned structures. Trained in filmmaking and communications, his documentary, "Hindsight" (2010), offered a dramatic and painful look at Long Island’s heroin epidemic. His most recent documentary, "Masters of Cruelty" (2018) takes an eye-opening look at New York's animal abuse laws told through the scope of those fighting against cruelty cases on Long Island.
.
"Lonely Chair" by John Lazzaro, 2018. Photograph, 20 x 16 inches. Courtesy Slide Slam and the Patchogue Arts Council.
.
Andrea Rhude
"Folklore, fairytales, and fantasy have always had a hold on my mind. The juxtaposition of the real and the fantastic speaks to a fundamental truth of the human psyche, and I like to dive into that and pull out images that tell stories or make the viewer of my painting feel the essence of the moment….I try to engage the viewers mind and emotion in the visual story, accepting that they may react differently but that on a human level it touches them."
.
"London Gentleman" by Andrea Rhude, 2016. Oil on wood, 30 x 60 inches. Courtesy of Slide Slam and Patchogue Arts Council.
.
_______________________
BASIC FACTS: Slide Slam 2018-19 is sponsored by the Patchogue Arts Council. Launched in 2012 by the East End Artist Collective Emerge.LI and relaunched in 2016 by the Patchogue Arts Council, the program aims to highlight the talent of artists working on Long Island and to foster connection among the far-flung art communities set across Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Click here for details on the 2018-19 program.
Hamptons Art Hub has been an online media sponsor since its 2012 inception and shares the program's goal of illuminating art and artists to know from the East End of Long Island as well as from New York City and the NY Metropolitan Area at large. Click here to begin exploring.
________________________
02/21/19 EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect Beth Giacummo conceived of Slide Slam and invited Emerge.LI to co-present. Emerge.LI did not originate Slide Slam program as originally stated.
________________________
Copyright 2019 Hamptons Art Hub LLC. All rights reserved.