Black and White in the Hamptons
Tripoli Gallery in Southampton is presenting Black & White, a group exhibition featuring works by important artists Katherine Bernhardt, Ross Bleckner, Quentin Curry, Jamie dePasquale, Tracey Emin, Ryan Estep, Urs Fischer, April Gornik, Takesada Matsutani, Angelbert Metoyer, Ned Smyth, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Igor Vishnyakov and Darius Yektai.
In order to fully understand the complexities of our vision and senses, we may begin by taking things away and scrutinizing what remains. Throughout history, artists have been found shedding the layers of all they have been taught, sometimes even color itself, in a quest to further understand and develop their own practice.
Recently, artists have been noticed relying solely on color to create a ‘sellable’ work. To be fair, we all sometimes fall prey to the same tendency in our attraction to artwork in general. In Black & White, color will not aid or inform, while the many various techniques, mediums, and textures used will instead.
From the gas blow torch involved in Bleckner’s recent works; to the cement on Yektai’s canvases; to the graphite at play in Matsutani’s small and intimate Wave on panel; to the Puerto Rican coffee bean bags used in Bernhardt’s paintings; each artist presents a use of material void of color and infused with a new interest and comfort of expression. For instance, April Gornik’s undeniable adeptness at capturing realism and mood in her landscapes, is here shown on works with heightened intensity using only charcoal on paper.
Ryan Estep, inspired by his Midwestern roots and invited to this exhibition from his earlier meticulously pressed sterilized dirt paintings, will show new works, still inspired by the earth, but now with the very tools used in the fields to thrash and haul wheat! Re-fastened and assembled, these new paintings push beyond the imagery that a viewer is accustomed to leaving us to ponder new forms of beauty. Tracey Emin constantly reinstates the power and importance of women, commenting on the recent bold stand they have taken for equal rights, with her refreshing and daring work. Her work shows a distinct brashness (in this case through embroidery) that demonstrates such confidence.
As viewers, we have a vague idea of the struggles and disciplines that go into creating works of art that get our attention, provoke thought, or simply move us. Black and White looks carefully at the work of fourteen artists who have created innovative works.
This mid-winter exhibition at Tripoli Gallery will allow the public to see the relevant art scene that exists out here all year and view works that have been created by a diverse pool of talented and inspired artists; both locally and internationally known.
(The exhibition will be on view at 30a Jobs Lane, Southampton, NY from February 25th through April 16th, 2017. There will be a public opening reception for the artists on Saturday, February 25th from 6 to 8 p.m. For further information, check out [email protected])