Guild Hall opens a group show devoted to Abstraction Expressionism pulled from its collection as the final exhibition for 2019. Opening simultaneously is a solo show by Joyce Kubat, winner of the 2017 Artist Members Exhibition. Both shows open on October 26, 2019 and continue on view through December 30, 2019.
A Gallery Talk for "Abstract Expressionism: Selections from the Guild Hall Permanent Collection" will take place on Sunday, October 27, 2019 at 1 p.m. A Members Exhibition follows from 2 to 4 p.m. An Artist Talk for "Joyce Kubat: My People" takes place on Saturday, November 16, 2019, at 2 p.m.
"Abstract Expressionism: Selections from the Guild Hall Permanent Collection" is curated by guest curator Joan Marter, Ph.D. Presented in the Moran and Woodhouse Galleries, the exhibition includes paintings, works on paper and sculpture. The show features works that have not been exhibited in recent years along with several notable loans.
Abstract Expressionism is an art movement with deep connection to The Hamptons. Ab-Ex artists who worked in the area include Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, Willem and Elaine de Kooning, James Brooks, Charlotte Park, Robert Motherwell, Helen Frankenthaler, Grace Hartigan and others. A solo show of paintings by Frankenthaler is currently on view at the Parrish Art Museum (through October 27, 2019) and the Pollock-Krasner House & Study Center in East Hampton preserves the life and artmaking by Pollock and Krasner.
Motherwell's work has received a solo show at Guild Hall in 2014. James Brooks will have a solo show at the Parrish in 2020.
For Guild Hall's group show, a catalogue with color illustrations accompanied the exhibition. The catalogue features an essay that discussed the important of East End artists to the emergence of Abstract Expressionism.
Exhibition curator Joan Marter is an American academic, art critic and author, with a Ph.D. from The University of Delaware, 1974. Marter is a “Distinguished Professor of Art History” at Rutgers University, the co-editor of the Woman’s Art Journal, the editor of The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art, the author of Women of Abstract Expressionism and co-organizer of the exhibition in 2016 (Denver Art Museum).
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"Untitled" by Lee Krasner, 1963. Oil on canvas, 54 x 46 inches. Purchased with aid of funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. Photo by Gary Mamay. Courtesy Guild Hall.
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"Joyce Kubat: My People" is curated by Casey Dalene, Curatorial Assistant, Registrar, Lewis B Cullman Associate for Museum Education. Kubat was awarded Top Honors of the 79th Artist Members Exhibition (2017). Her work was selected by guest award juror Ruba Katrib, who was curator at the Sculpture Center and now curator at MoMA PS1.
In her solo show, Kubat assembles her “people,” a body of work which she has been developing since 2002. Process leads the way as Kubat develops psychological figurative works that convey an emotionally raw narrative of human anatomy, according to Guild Hall.
"The figure has always been my focus, and over the years it’s become a psychological focus, a not-always-easy-to-view focus," Kubat wrote in an Artist Statement. "Art with only surface excitement seems empty. For me it has to have a serious and profound underpinning, always poignant, often humorous, relating in some way to the universal humanity common to all of us."
Kubat holds a BS in Psychology from Michigan State University, and continued her studies in New York City at both Brooklyn College and The Art Students League. She lives and works in Huntington, NY, and has exhibited throughout Long Island, New York City, Italy, and elsewhere.
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"Peaches" by Joyce Kubat, 2018. Ink on two paper layers, 12 x 9 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist and Guild Hall.
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BASIC FACTS: "Abstract Expressionism: Selections from the Guild Hall Permanent Collection" and "Joyce Kubat: My People" are exhibited October 26 to December 30, 2019 at Guild Hall, 158 Main Street, East Hampton, NY 11937. www.guildhall.org.
A Gallery Talk for "Abstract Expressionism" take place on Sunday, October 27, 2019 at 1 p.m. A Members Exhibition follows from 2 to 4 p.m. An Artist Talk for "Joyce Kubat: My People" takes place on Saturday, November 16, 2019, at 2 p.m. Admission to the museum is free.
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