Amagansett - The windows leading to the The Crazy Monkey Artist Cooperative Gallery were covered in brown paper at Saturday's opening reception for the "Salon des Refuses" exhibition. No one under the age of 18 would be allowed to enter the gallery, and even some of the maturer attendees could be seen blushing a bit.

Artist Andrea McCafferty.

Salon des Refusés (or French for "exhibition of rejects") generally refers to works of art refused by the jury of the official Paris Salon, but most famously the exhibition held in Paris in the late 1800s, sponsored by the French government.

In 1863, artists protested the Salon jury's rejection of more than 3,000 works that were denied exhibition in the official annual Salon of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, as they were considered too scandalous or revealing with partial or total nudity. Among those artists who were rejected were Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and James A. M. Whistler. The artists were granted space in an annex to the regular Salon, thus beginning an alternative exhibition movement.

According to the gallery "In the footsteps of those artists whose avant-garde art was rejected by the Paris Salon in 1863, the Crazy Monkey Co-op Gallery is presenting an edgy, provocative art exhibit featuring the nude human body."

And edgy this exhibiton is - with works on display from participating artists including Eric Ernst, Jim Gingerich, David Gamble, Maria Pessino, Teri Kennedy, Evan Thomas, Samantha Rudduck, Karyn Mannix, Nathan Bestas, as well as several of the Co-op members, Andrea McCafferty, Daniel Schoenheimer, Rolande Cicurel, Eileen Hickey-Hulme, Setha Lowe, Jana Hayden, Joyce Silver, Lance Corey, Wilhelmina Howe, and June Kaplan, all presenting work in numerous mediums such as sculpture, oil painting, photographs and mixed media.

The majority of the works are provocative, thoughtful and tasteful. In particular, works by artist Jim Gingerich are sexy and meaningful, as well as the female form sculptures by artists Teri Kennedy and Jana Hayden.

Artist Teri Kennedy with a few of her pieces.

Some works are of a very graphic nature such as photographs by Andrea McCafferty, and therefore certainly not appropriate for younger viewers (or readers) - hence, the necessity for those brown paper covered windows - but none delve into crudity or 'shock value.'

The gallery space is small but more than accommodated multiple works by each artist, and the presentation of such was both cohesive and flowed naturally from one room to the next. These artists are to be commended for their risk taking to keep an art movement established more than 100 years ago both alive and well.

The exhibit will run through January 31, so don't be shy - there is some wonderful artwork on view.