5 Must-See Hamptons Art Shows: Labor Day Weekend 2018

The Hamptons art scene is rife with excellent new gallery shows and museum exhibitions over Labor Day weekend, including some opening receptions.

Find more great shows and events through our online calendar at events.danspapers.com.

Stephen Wilkes “Day to Night” Photographs at Tulla Booth Gallery (illustrated above)
Featured in a National Geographic Museum exhibition earlier this year, images from Stephen Wilkes’ wildly popular “Day to Night” series capture some of the most beloved cities and sites around the world. Wilkes takes hundreds of photographs from a single vantage point over a 12-hour period and then meticulously crafts them into one dramatic composition from dawn to dusk. He was recently featured in a National Geographic issue celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the state parks in America and is continuing his quest to complete his photographic vision for an upcoming Day to Night book, which will be published late fall by Taschen.

You can meet Stephen Wilkes at a special opening reception at Tulla Booth Gallery this Friday, August 31 from 6–8 p.m. The show will remain on view through Thursday, September 27.

Tulla Booth Gallery is located at 66 Main Street in Sag Harbor. Call 631-725-3100 or visit tullaboothgallery.com.

Michele Dragonetti: Re-emergent at Roman Fine Art
Michele Dragonetti’s second solo exhibition at Roman Fine Art once again highlights photographs from her “Boat Hull” series, which began in the marinas of Montauk where she was drawn to boats in need of repair and refurbishing. In Re-emergent, Dragonetti focuses on the boats she photographs as art objects. Removed from the water and typically propped up on boat supports or storage blocks, the boats’ functional purpose takes a backseat to their aesthetic one in these images. Arguably, the most beautiful part of the boat, the hull remains hidden for much of its life. The colorful paint detailing is often enhanced by saltwater and the scars of time.

Join Michele Dragonetti for an opening reception at Roman Fine Art on Friday, August 31 from 6–8 p.m.

Roman Fine Art is located at 66 Park Place in East Hampton. For more information, call 917-797-8931 or visit romanfineart.com.

Hampton Classics at Janet Lehr Fine Arts
Scheduled in conjunction with the East End’s greatest horse show, the Hampton Classic, Janet Lehr Fine Arts’ Hampton Classics presents a series of renowned fashion and fine art photographer Steven Klein’s horse portraits, along with notable subjects such as Madonna, David Bowie and Karen Elsen. Other works on view include pieces by Hamptons icons Eric Fischl, William de Kooning and Perle Fine. Fischl’s massive “Adam & Eve” painting was selected to highlight the upcoming Rosh Hashanna Holiday, the Jewish New Year.

An opening reception is scheduled for Friday, August 31 from 6–8 p.m. at Janet Lehr Fine Arts. Hampton Classics runs through Wednesday, October 3.

Janet Lehr Fine Arts is located at Starbucks Passage in East Hampton. Call 631-324-3303 or visit janetlehrfineart.com.

Ellsworth Kelly in the Hamptons at Guild Hall
Much of the compelling work Kelly executed in the Hamptons during sabbaticals in 1960 and 1961—and a few years later in 1968 and 1969—is found in museums in New York and other institutions on the East Coast. While on the East End during his late 30s and mid-40s, Kelly, one of America’s most significant abstractionists, created incredible art. He painted two distinct bodies of work, made a large sculpture, drew plants and flowers, and photographed local farmyard barns. Besides showing critical moments in Kelly’s career, these paintings, works on paper, photographs and sculpture at Guild Hall illuminate yet another important chapter in the History of American Art rooted in the Hamptons.

Ellsworth Kelly in the Hamptons is open through Monday, October 8 at Guild Hall, 158 Main Street, in East Hampton. Call 631-324-0806 or visit guildhall.org.

Montauk Highway II: Postwar Abstraction in the Hamptons at Eric Firestone Gallery
In the 1950s and 1960s, the Hamptons became one of the most significant meeting grounds of like-minded artists, who gathered on the beach, in local bars, and at the artist-run Signa Gallery in East Hampton (active from 1957-60). It was an extension of the vanguard artistic activity happening in New York City around abstraction, which constituted a radical re-definition of art. But the East End was also a place where artists were freer to experiment. For the second time, Eric Firestone Gallery pays homage to this rich and layered history in Montauk Highway II. The show includes work from the period by more than 30 artists who played an important role in the Hamptons scene, and had studios in the area, such as Lee Bontecou, Lee Krasner, Conrad Marca-Relli, Elaine de Kooning and James Brooks.

Montauk Highway II: Postwar Abstraction in the Hamptons is open at Eric Firestone Gallery through Sunday, September 23 at 4 Newtown Lane in East Hampton. Call 631-604-2386 or visit ericfirestonegallery.com.