By Karen Bloom
The Heckscher Museum of Art
Long Island is the focus of a special exhibit at the Heckscher Museum. ³Picturing Long Island: Abstract, Figurative, and Historical,² features paintings and photographs approximately 40 in all that run the gamut from the 19th through 21st centuries. According to Heckscher Chief Curator, Dr. Kenneth Wayne, ³the exhibit¹s unique juxtaposition of historical with contemporary art and paintings with photographs creates a particularly compelling presentation.²
The earliest work dates to 1876 James MacDougal Hart¹s oil painting ³Northport, Long Island² while several others were produced as recently as 2006. Other 19th century works include two paintings by Edwin Austin Abbey that were made in East Hampton and a stormy seascape by Edward Moran. Helen Torr¹s delightful portrayal of Huntington Harbor from 1929 demonstrates why her reputation is on the rise.
Watercolors by Torr¹s husband, the great American modernist Arthur Dove from the 1940s, record the area around Centerport with delicacy and charm. In ³Long Island Abstraction,² from the early 1960s, Charlotte Park¹s gestural swipes of pink, green, light blue, and white paint evoke the sand dunes and grassy knolls of the Hamptons on a summer¹s day.
The colorful, abstract paintings of Stan Brodsky capture a light and festive aspect of the Island, while the semi-abstract paintings of Lisa Breslow reflect a facet that is mysterious, profound, and contemplative. Barbara Prey¹s ³Twilight II² portrays trees in dark silhouette at dusk, while the swirling moodiness of her painting ³Cold Spring Harbor² recalls Edvard Munch. April Gornik¹s cool night-time images of a pond and the ocean fully engage the viewer with their romantic spirit. At the same time, Jane Wilson focuses exclusively on the skies above in her painting ³Midsummer Night.² In her paintings ³Equinox II² and ³Equinox III,² Pat Ralph appealingly captures the fall colors of the North Shore¹s wooded areas with painterly creaminess. It¹s easy to forget the winter day which awaits outside.
Photography also comprises a significant component of Picturing Long Island. Joe Constantino¹s photos from infra-red negatives of a barn in Mattituck and canoes in Riverhead are mesmerizing. Andreas Rentsch¹s images of a silhouetted figure in the forest he is actually the model seem both primal and mysterious. Neil Scholl¹s sleek black-and-white images of Caumsett State Park seem to come from a different era, while Raymond Germann also addresses Lloyd Harbor the area in which Caumsett is located. Stanley Twardowicz¹s photo ³Long Island² seems like a multi-layered collage.
The exhibit can be seen through March 25. Visit the Heckscher Museum of Art at 2 Prime Ave., Huntington. (631) 730-3250.
Hofstra University¹s Rosenberg Gallery
The paintings of Jim Lee are on display at ³Moro Bottom,² an exhibit presented by Hofstra University¹s Department of Fine Arts and Art History. The title for the exhibition comes from the name of a small, poor community in Arkansas, consisting of a three-square mile plot of land where six houses provided shelter for seven families.
Lee has had his work exhibited in Philadelphia, Boston and last year in Berlin, Germany. He is currently an adjunct assistant professor of fine arts at Hofstra University.
Each painting maintains a certain degree of austerity, yet a quirky awkwardness is revealed during the artistic process. The works are made by any number of material combinations including, but not limited to oil, acrylic, rubber and latex paint on canvas, linen, drop cloths, wooden stretcher bars, honeycomb aluminum, plywood, plastic, cardboard and polystyrene.
³Sometimes the paint is built-up in many layers, other times it is barely traceable and often the surface is cut, sutured and patched. The result is a Frankenstein-like structure somewhere between painting and sculpture,² said Lee. Wavering to and fro, the objects are trussed and cobbled together in a makeshift approach with the intent to mend various ideas connecting the past with the present.
The exhibit can be seen through February 28. It¹s at Calkins Hall Rosenberg Gallery, on Hofstra University¹s South Campus, Hempstead. For more information call Hofstra¹s Department of Fine Arts and Art History at (516) 463-5474.
