No Joke: The Church Promises Summer of Art & Thoughtful Laughter in Sag Harbor

The Church in Sag Harbor has swiftly grown a reputation as one of the East End’s most important and exciting venues for the arts, and their offerings this summer demonstrate exactly why people are flocking to their exhibitions and events, including several in June and July that have already sold out before Memorial Day is even here.

Setting the stage for all other activities, workshops and more is The Church’s Summer 2024 exhibition Are You Joking? Women & Humor, running from Sunday, June 23 to Monday, September 2 installed across the Main Floor and Mezzanine show space in the former Greek Revival-style Methodist Church built in 1835 and moved in 1864 to its current home at 48 Madison Street in Sag Harbor Village.

The church was deconsecrated in 2007, a decade before world renowned North Haven artists Eric Fischl and April Gornik bought and renovated the building starting in 2017, creating a stunning space for showcasing the arts and culture, and finally opening its doors in 2021.

Conceived and organized by Chief Curator Sara Cochran, Are You Joking? explores humor and contemporary art, solely through work by 40 women and female-identifying artists in a wide range of media. According to The Church, the exhibition’s remit is twofold: First, to “counter the tired stereotypes and clichés about women not being funny or able to take a joke,” and second, “to illustrate the different forms and topics of humor in contemporary art from artistic jokes, political outrages, bodily functions and appearances, cultural stereotypes, and sex and death, to the absurd and surreal, puns and slapstick as well as poking fun at sacred cows of art and its institutions.”

Among the examples cited is Katherine Bernhardt’s colorful and playful 2022 spray paint and acrylic on canvas, “Shark Attack” (pictured at top of page), which plays with painting tradition by ignoring illusion, perspective, or scale. “Her paintings flatten any sense of hierarchy or relationship between its elements,” The Church writes of the pink- and green-dominated composition, which lays out disparate images of sharks, cigarette butts, a Pokemon Poke ball, Pepsi logo, and a sea-blue Croc intermingled with an outstretched Pink Panther wearing sunglasses.

“Reclining Nude,” Heiji Shin’s hilariously titled photo of a pig in an open white space immediately elicits a laugh when reading the name, and Joyce Pensato’s “I Must Be Dreamin’” presents a loosely rendered portrait of Felix the Cat using expressionistic enamel marks on linen.

The Church explains that the selection of works, which are delivered in an array of styles and approaches, “takes art off its pedestal and puts the viewer in a position to laugh or shake their head.”

“Humor is deeply personal, and viewers will respond in individual ways to each of the works. It is exciting to hear all of these female voices in the exhibition. Humor is one of the best ways to speak truth to power and foster shared experiences,” Curator Sara Cochran says. “It runs the panoply, from sweet, to belly laugh, to irony and satire,” she adds, pointing out that Are You Joking? is nuanced and sophisticated, like everything The Church tends to exhibit. “It is at times a very serious show.”

The complete list of participating artists currently includes Eleanor Antin, Lynda Benglis, Katherine Bernhardt, Deborah Buck, Patty Chang, Pipi Deer, Rosalyn Drexler, Madeline Donahue, Nicole Eisenman, Pippa Garner, Carly Haffner, K8 Hardy, Nina Katchadourian, Sarah Lucas, Louise Lawler, Judith Linhares, Olivia Locher, Tala Madani, Gladys Nilsson, Joyce Pensato, Wendy Red Star, Heji Shin, Denise Silva-Dennis, Laurie Simmons, Alexis Smith, Tammi Smith, Claire Watson, and Almond Zigmund. Others will be announced before the June 23 opening.

This summer’s big benefit event, which is already sold out, features Summer Dinner Theater from comedy legend Martin Short — most recently in the Hulu hit series Only Murders in the Building with Steve Martin and Selena Gomez — on Saturday, June 1.

A series of educational art workshops are scheduled throughout the season, though nearly all are sold out. Led by local printmakers Samuel Havens and Susan Bachemin, only one workshop remains available in the schedule: an Open Studio for Monotype Printing on Wednesday, July 24 from 2–6 p.m., and it will likely sell out quickly.

The Church is also supporting a number of talented artists and writers with residencies, including writer Quincy Flowers from May 30–June 19, painter Jordan Seaberry from May 30–June 5, multi-media artist Olga Tomkowiak from June 6–19, writer Jenny Xie July 4–10, writer Mira Dougherty-Johnson July 4–24, writer Hugh Ryan from August 1–21, painter Nanibah Chacon August 8 – 21, and writer David Grundy August 8–21.

Expect much more to fill the calendar at The Church this summer and keep an eye out for added events, workshops and activities at thechurchsagharbor.org. Call 631-919-5342 or email info@thechurchsagharbor.org