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Summer 2000 Exhibitions
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In Memory of My Feelings: Frank O'Hara and American Art June 11 through July 30 
American poet Frank O'Hara (1926-1966) moved fluidly in the art and literary circles of fifties and sixties New York, a key period in American cultural history. This groundbreaking exhibition traces the influence he had on a diverse group of artists and shows how their work affected his poetry.
Members' Opening Reception and Talk Exhibition Opening 6 pm
Frank O'Hara: Poetry and Painting In Memory of My Feelings: Frank O'Hara and American Art presents not only works of art that were influenced by O'Hara's poetry, but also those that were central to his own development as a poet. More than 100 works by twenty-six artists are featured, many of them associated with the East End of Long Island. The artists are Norman Bluhm, Joe Brainard, John Button, Wynn Chamberlain, Elaine de Kooning, Willem de Kooning, Jane Freilicher, Michael Goldberg, Philip Guston, Grace Hartigan, Jasper Johns, Larry Johnson, Howard Kanovitz, Alex Katz, Franz Kline, Lee Krasner, Alfred Leslie, Fred W. McDarrah, Robert Motherwell, Hans Namuth, Alice Neel, Claes Oldenburg, Jackson Pollock, Fairfield Porter, and Larry Rivers. Several works by O'Hara are also included. O'Hara was not only one of the most important poets of his time, but also a highly respected art critic and a curator at the Museum of Modern Art. Simultaneously with his work within the New York art world, he produced a constant stream of poetry, which was often written on his lunch breaks from the museum. Mirroring O'Hara's own fluidity, the exhibition breaks down conventionally held divisions between the New York School and the early Pop movement, between Abstract Expressionists and figurative painters, to create a more nuanced interpretation of this period. O'Hara's life was a dynamic part of an eclectic circle of artists and literary figures. He was a central member of the New York School of poets, a group that included John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, and James Schuyler. O'Hara collaborated directly with the visual artists in his milieu who in turn made work that was inspired by his poetry. His worlds-art and poetry, friendship and work-were inseparable. The Parrish is the only East Coast venue for this important exhibition, which is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Accompanied by a fully illustrated 160-page catalogue with an essay by MOCA associate curator Russell Ferguson, the exhibition has been made possible in part by generous support from the Dedalus Foundation, Inc.; the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency; Audrey M. Irmas; Beatrice and Philip Gersh; and the Thornton S. Glide, Jr. and Katrina D. Glide Foundation. Its presentation at the Parrish has been made possible in part by Linda and Gregory Fischbach; the Herman Goldman Foundation, Helene and Whitney Stevens; Del Laboratories; the Cowles Charitable Trust; and Dr. and Mrs. Werner Otto.
Summer Sculpture: Peter Schlesinger For the third season of Summer Sculpture, in which The Parrish commissions contemporary artists to originate a work for the Museum's Job's Lane entrance, Peter Schlesinger, an artist whose innovative work in ceramic has earned him a growing reputation, will create a site-specific piece in response to the historic character of the facade. Schlesinger was inspired by photographs of the exterior taken in 1913, when architect Grosvenor Atterbury completed the extension of the museum galleries, culminating in a formal Italianate entrance on Job's Lane. Schlesinger originally trained as a painter at London's Slade School of Art. In 1987, while searching for a sculptural medium, he began to work with clay. Initially he made objects which had little to do with traditional ceramic vessels, but as he explored the medium, historical references began to inform his work. The use of unusual glazes and the exploration of inventive forms have distinguished his recent work. Schlesinger maintains a studio in Bellport, Long Island.
Barbara Bloom: The Gaze and The Nature of Seeing: Works from the Collection
It is the role of the artist to heighten our perceptions and engage our vision in new ways of seeing. For Summer 2000, the internationally known artist Barbara Bloom, who maintains a home and studio on the North Fork of Long Island, will reprise her major installation piece, The Gaze (1986). A selection of works from the permanent collection of The Parrish will also be on view in The Nature of Seeing, which will take a fresh approach to looking at The Parrish's widely renowned collection of 19th- and 20th-century American art. Bloom is an artist long engaged in the investigation of visual perception and ways of looking. In The Gaze, first shown in 1986 at the Stedejlik Museum in Amsterdam, now in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, and not previously seen on the East Coast, a sheer curtain hung around the walls effectively masks the images on display. A guard railing, ordinarily used to keep museum-goers distanced from art works, is here used to keep the viewer at close range. One is free to part the curtains for a better look, and by encouraging this involvement, Bloom mediates the space between the viewer and the viewed, calling into question our ideas about looking and being observed. The Nature of Seeing: Works from the Collection, organized by Parrish Curator of Art, Alicia Longwell, will probe the many different ways in which artists have challenged our perceptions and altered our vision. The selection will feature perennial favorites and some little known surprises from the collection, and will include the work of William Merritt Chase, Childe Hassam, John Sloan, Fairfield Porter, Elaine de Kooning, and Red Grooms. The presentation of the exhibitions Barbara Bloom: The Gaze and The Nature of Seeing: Works from the Collection is made possible with generous support from Helene and Whitney Stevens. |
Members' Opening Reception and Talk |
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