|
East Hampton, NY
-
LongHouse Reserve will open its 2018 season
with Rites of Spring on Saturday, April 28th,
from 2-5pm. The East Hampton organization will
rename its Amphitheater to the memory of playwright
Edward Albee (1928-2016), in what would have been
his 90th birth year. Academy Award winning actress
Mercedes Ruehl will perform the dedication with
friend, fellow actor Harris Yulin at 5:30pm. Former
NEA Chair Jane Alexander will speak. This will be
followed by the launch of the Edward Albee Memorial
Fund for art purchases. Throughout the day, an
exhibition of figurative works by American artist
Judith Shea will be on view at the LongHouse
Pavilion. A site specific work by artist Orly Genger
will be unveiled in the garden.
Throughout the day, a video of Albee reading at
LongHouse with Elaine Stritch will be played. The
reading was held in 2001, the year LongHouse honored
Albee. LongHouse Award was initiated in 2001 at our
first full-fledged benefit. The LongHouse gardens
will be in full bloom with daffodils during the
Rites of Spring. This event is open to the
public, with a special price of $15 for general
admission, and complimentary admission for members.
Edward Albee (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?)
was a longtime friend of Longhouse. Jack Lenor
Larsen, LongHouse Founder and world renowned textile
designer, had a deep friendship with Edward dating
back to the 1950s when they both came to live in
Manhattan. As a Montauk resident, Edward came often
to Longhouse. He served on LongHouse’s arts
committee since its inception 27 years ago. Edward
performed and read in the Amphitheater many times,
hosted dialogues (including one with Robert Wilson),
hosted galas, and even his 80th birthday. LongHouse
staff and trustees will be present for the
dedication.
About the Artists:
Judith Shea
is an American artist, born in Philadelphia. She was
raised on Long Island, attended Parsons in the
1960s, and has lived and worked in New York City
ever since. Her studies of the human figure in many
guises and materials were first exhibited in 1976 at
The Clocktower in Lower Manhattan in a living color
theory performance using a full color spectrum of
sheer silk clothes.
In 1981, she began casting 3D bronze and iron
‘hollow’ figures and in the 90s carved wooden
statues and her ‘anti-monuments’. Her work on the
subject of 9/11, “Judith Shea: Legacy Collection”
are figures carved to resemble mannequins situated
in the windows of the Brooks Brothers store directly
opposite Ground Zero, their upturned faces and
clothes stained with the dust and light of
explosion. A unique metaphor, they juxtapose an
image of success, American Style, reflecting a
grandiose attempt to topple it.
The exhibition at LongHouse this season will include
some of these works, in particular the work “Lower
Manhattan Classic”. Also on view will be earlier
works in bronze and steel from the previously
mentioned 3D hollow figure series of 1989-91.
Some of Shea’s current works have been included in
“Greater New York” at MoMA/PS1 (2015-16), at the
National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.
(ongoing), a solo exhibition at Kent Fine Art, NY
(2014). In 2012 Shea received a Guggenheim
Fellowship in Fine Art. Her works are on permanent
view in the Hirshhorn Museum’s Sculpture Garden in
Washington, D.C.
Orly Genger,
using the vernacular techniques of crocheting,
knitting, and knotting, creates monumental
sculptures with rope—transforming this workday
material into powerful yet pliable installations.
Genger has been creating increasingly ambitious
installations with colorful masses of hand-knotted
rope – her signature medium – for over 10 years.
Outdoor work on a monumental scale
has recently been a focus as seen in Madison Square
Park, at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, and at
The Austin Contemporary at Laguna Gloria. Through
her recurring use of coarse rope, vivid color and
grand scale, Genger reshapes space and actively
engages viewers. Her sculptures have at once an
imposing physical presence and fluidity, a softness,
and a sense of welcoming accessibility, resonating
with its pulsating palette of intense color. Orly
Genger was born in New York City in 1979. She
received her BA from Brown University in 2001, and
attended The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
in 2002.
Genger’s work is included in several museum
collections including The Museum of Modern Art, The
Whitney Museum, The Brooklyn Museum, The
Indianapolis Museum of Art, The Hood Museum of Art,
and The Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Her work has been
featured in the The New York Times, the
Wall Street Journal, ArtNews, Art in
America, the Boston Globe, Art +
Auction, Sculpture, the New Yorker,
and the Washington Post amongst others.
About LongHouse Reserve
LongHouse Reserve exemplifies living
with art in all forms. Founded by Jack Lenor Larsen,
its collections, gardens, sculpture and programs
reflect world cultures and inspire a creative life.
LongHouse Reserve is a 16-acre reserve and sculpture
garden located in East Hampton, NY, featuring pieces
from Buckminster Fuller, Yoko Ono and Willem de
Kooning to name a few. Open to members and to the
public for a small fee. |