The Village of Montauk, a famously artistic community, will welcome a new gallery this summer. South Etna Montauk, a new exhibition space created by Amalia Dayan and Adam Lindemann, will host their debut presentation, Painting is Painting’s Favorite Food: Art History as Muse, beginning Thursday, July 16. The exhibition is curated by Alison M. Gingeras and will explore the various ways artists deploy art history as their central muse.
The show includes works by Derrick Adams, Glenn Brown, Scott Covert, John Currin, Jesse Edwards, Hadi Fallahpisheh, Rachel Feinstein, Luis Flores, Doreen Garner, Clarity Haynes, Lyle Ashton Harris, Jane Kaplowitz, Karen Kilimnik, Dennis Kardon, Chris Oh, Borna Sammak, Peter Saul, Sally Saul, Betty Tompkins, Piotr Uklański, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.
“By separating us from physical access to the trove of treasures we normally take for granted as accessible at museums and galleries, this unprecedented period of confinement has made us more aware of how much we feed on art history as part of our regular visual and intellectual diet. This inaugural exhibition at South Etna Montauk – whose Kilimnik-esque faux Tudor facade is a manifestation of ‘architecture is architecture’s favorite food’ – pays tribute to our collective need for the nourishment provided by art and art history,” stated Gingeras.
The exhibition will reveal a range of strategies by artists metabolizing the past in their work. Some works on display embody art historical amalgamations, such as Doreen Garner’s corporeal sculptures that converge the legacies of Harmony Hammond, Paul Thek, and Alberto Burri. Clarity Haynes’ photorealist depictions of the torsos of queer women seem to inherit their compositional force and technical virtuosity from the work of Dominico Gnoli, while Hadi Fallahpisheh’s photogram Untitled (Artist-Critic) takes liberties with the narrative of an untitled Philip Guston drawing.
South Etna Montauk will be open to the public Tuesday through Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and by appointment. Social distancing will be observed in accordance with guidelines recommended to ensure the health and safety of staff and visitors.
South Etna Montauk is located at 6 South Etna Avenue in Montauk. For more information, visit www.southetnamontauk.com.