This November marks the fifth anniversary of the Parrish in its Herzog & de Meuron-designed building in Water Mill. To celebrate this milestone, the annual reinstallation of the Parrish permanent collection presents a closer look at artists whose work represents the ongoing legacy of artists of the East End.

Individual galleries will be dedicated to two of those artists: Abstract Expressionist James Brooks (1906–1992), and Alan Shields (1944–2005), whose work reflects a bold reversal of conventional painting traditions.

Recently, the Museum was entrusted with the most significant collection of works by Brooks and Charlotte Park by the James and Charlotte Brooks Foundation. Twenty paintings on view by Brooks, a key figure in modern American art who lived on the East End for decades, illustrate his embrace of experimentation and risk. Alan Shields: A Stitch in Time provides insight into the artist’s life-long engagement with textile and the needle arts, and illustrates how his impetus to take painting down from the wall and the stretcher liberated his artistic process.

In a new initiative, the Museum invited internationally renowned artist Rashid Johnson to act as guest curator to mine the Parrish permanent collection and create a special installation from his unique perspective.

Image: Alan Shields (American, 1944–2005), "Devil, Devil, Love," 1970. Cotton belting, acrylic, thread, beads, and wood, 96 x 194 inches. Parrish Art Museum, Museum Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Robert F. Carney Fund 2007.15.