“Mary Heilmann: Water Way”
Where: Guild Hall, East Hampton
When: Aug. 3–Oct. 26
Why It’s Worth a Look: A high diver in San Francisco as a teenager, abstract painter Mary Heilmann has always been interested in the geometry of water. From the crests of her Long Line installation (which was recently expanded into a resting space inside the Whitney Museum) to the techniques of her painted forms, her nuanced work evokes the ephemeral sluices of the beach.
Know Before You Go: Although the 85-year old artist has split her time between New York City and Bridgehampton for decades, this is her first solo show on the East End.
“Stones” by Frank O’Hara and Larry Rivers
Where: Pollock-Krasner House, Springs
When: Aug. 6–Sept. 20
Why It’s Worth a Look: The product of two seminal 20th-century artists with a close relationship that was both creative and romantic, “Stones” is a subtly subversive portrait of Beat-era intimacy. Layering words with black etchings and inking the edges of the lithographic stone to create a frame on the page, Rivers and O’Hara began with a piece’s title and worked concurrently, words and images in tandem.
Know Before You Go: The exhibition coincides with the release of an album inspired by “Stones” from Pollock-Krasner House artist-in-residence and harpist Emily Hopkins.
“Honey (Inventory-2)” by Alix Pearlstein
Where: Arts Center at Duck Creek, East Hampton
When: Aug. 7–10
Why It’s Worth a Look: In this interactive show, actors led by Alix Pearlstein will shape-shift through gestures, narratives, and choreographed fragments, all evolving in real time as they’re continuously directed. It’s a four-day experiment that rewards responsiveness and lingering through the variations as the work continues its steady evolution.
Know Before You Go: Pearlstein will expand upon her previous performances and installations by repurposing artifacts, characters, actions, and structures from her portfolio on the fly during the durational performance.
“Sarah Sze”
Where: Landcraft Garden Foundation, Mattituck
When: Through Oct. 25
Why It’s Worth a Look: A walk along the narrow strip of land between the Long Island Sound, Mattituck Creek, and the Peconic Bay offers more than the usual hornbeam, boxwood, birches, and ginkgos. At the Landcraft Garden Foundation, artist and Columbia professor Sarah Sze’s latest sculpture offers its own encyclopedic presentation of natural life.
Know Before You Go: Painted and printed scraps of fabric are suspended between trees like garments on a clothesline. Instead of blouses and socks, you’ll find dozens of images of reel-to-reel tape decks, glasses of water, sunsets, lit matches, and soaring birds flapping amidst the greenery.
“Joseph Hart”
Where: Halsey McKay, East Hampton
When: Aug. 2–25
Why It’s Worth a Look: Abstract painter Joseph Hart explores the clash and confluence of discrete things in his everyday visual life—from the many overlapping cultures and subcultures of New York, to the panels of his childhood comic books, to the voluminous foliage of the Catalpa tree that grows outside his apartment window.
Know Before You Go: Whether they’re marbled surfaces, hairline fractures, or deep volcanic fissures, Hart’s works contain both a sturdiness and a volatility.
“Sunday”
Where: Tripoli Gallery, Wainscott (in collaboration with Vito Schnabel Gallery)
When: Through Aug. 18
Why It’s Worth a Look: Art-world mainstays (Katherine Bernhardt, Julian Schnabel, and Robert Nava) and rising stars propose their perspectives on the notions of rest and escape, in a gathering of works that touch on leisure, memory, and spiritual reflection—an instant dose of meditative balance for passing viewers.
Know Before You Go: Katherine Bradford’s hazy paintings depict sun-soaked swimmers in between peace and play, while Robert Nava’s Zombie Star Angel (featured in a concurrent show in St. Moritz) confronts the religious dimension of Sunday through depictions of angels in Abrahamic faith.
“My My, Hey Hey”
Where: Eric Firestone Gallery, East Hampton
When: Through July 30
Why It’s Worth a Look: Anyone who’s had a pop song lodged in their head knows the power of repetition. A new group show at Eric Firestone Gallery repeats and repeats— through color, brush stroke, motif, and fragments—until new meanings emerge.
Know Before You Go: Featuring work by Francesca DiMattio, Michelle Flores, Jackie Milad, Tony Tasset, and more, the show proffers porcelain Chiquita Bananas, Mexican folk art mosaics, Egyptian protest graffiti, and never-melting snowmen—all in the same room.
“Sean Scully: The Albee Barn, Montauk”
Where: Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill
When: Through Sept. 21
Why It’s Worth a Look: In 1982, a 37-year old Sean Scully took up residence in the Albee Barn, a white wood, gambrel-roofed artist’s retreat nestled on a secluded knoll in Montauk. The residency proved pivotal for Scully, both creatively and personally. It was the first time the Minimalist artist had truly lived amidst nature, and it was there that he began painting on small multipanel scraps of wood, a technique that has been central to his practice ever since.
Know Before You Go: Bringing together over 70 works from four decades of the renowned Minimalist’s career, the show features 15 pieces from Scully’s original fellowship at the Barn.
“The Elephant in the Room” by Julius Von Bismarck
Where: The Ranch, Montauk
When: Aug. 7–Sept. 27
Why It’s Worth a Look: Julius Von Bismarck’s Whipping Willow transforms a living tree into a kinetic sculpture. Towering at 30 feet and permanently rooted at the Ranch, the work offers a rare chance to witness the artist’s blend of ecological spectacle and conceptual provocation come alive.
Know Before You Go: Von Bismarck is also presenting his “Fire With Fire” series, which explores the catastrophic forces of nature, and his landscape series, which uses photographic and painterly techniques to render vistas ranging from a Mexican jungle to a slum in Nairobi to a Spanish quarry to a Russian forest.
“Garden Voices”
Where: Jeff Lincoln Art + Design, Southampton
When: Through Sept. 30
Why It’s Worth a Look: Where there’s great art, there’s great design—and the Hamptons are no exception. At his eponymous gallery, Jeff Lincoln brings together work from prominent contemporary artists with rare mid-century furniture and fixtures.
Know Before You Go: This summer, the gallery is highlighting outdoor sculptural design by artists from every corner of the globe. Basalt, concrete, travertine, and bronze gleam in the sunlight, courtesy of a United Nations of creatives: American designer Wendell Castle, Lebanese-French artist Najla El Zein, South Korea–based artist Byung Hoon Choi, and English designer Faye Toogood.
“Spencer Lewis”
Where: Harper’s, East Hampton
When: Aug. 16–Sept. 17
Why It’s Worth a Look: For his second show in East Hampton, Spencer Lewis departs from his typical hulking abstractions on raw jute for smaller fare.
Know Before You Go: Lewis spent his childhood tracing copies of Hans Hoffmann and Willem de Kooning works, but his freehand paintings (combining oil, acrylic, and spray paint) have just as much in common with the improvisational gestures of graffiti.
“Indigenous Sea Stories”
Where: Ma’s House, Southampton
When: Through Aug. 10
Why It’s Worth a Look: The Shinnecock Nation has been a steward of the East End’s water, land, and sea life for hundreds of years. A new exhibition of photographs, weaving, painting, and video shines a light on the Indigenous women who have been fighting pollution and conserving ocean life along the coast for years.
Know Before You Go: In addition to educational tools from the Shinnecock Kelp Farmers, the show also features works by Indigenous artists Jeremy Dennis, Durrell Hunter, Denise SilvaDennis, David Bunn Martine, Waban Tarrant, Kelly Dennis, Rebekah Wise, Adrienne Terry, and Sara Siestreem.
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