LongHouse Debuts New Sculpture at Rites of Spring Saturday
East Hampton 16-acre reserve and sculpture garden LongHouse is starting the season with their annual Rites of Spring event on Saturday, April 29. Along with enjoying the thousands upon thousands of blooming daffodils and other blossoming bulbs, guests will get a first look at some exciting new additions to the reserve’s Art in the Gardens, including works by late Shelter Island sculptor and world famous art luminary John Chamberlain, John Crawford, Marylyn Dintenfass, Judy Kensley McKie, Mark Mennin, Bernar Venet and Fred Wilson.
Among the standouts from the collection of new works works are two monumental “aluminum foil sculptures” by Chamberlain—”Frostydickfantasy” (2008) and “Pineapplesurprise” (2010)—which are actually based on smaller foil sculptures, but made from more durable materials, such as silver and copper colored industrial aluminum, which has been looped and flexed into whimsical, biomorphic forms as tall as 15 feet.The sculptures will be on view at LongHouse until October 2018.
“Fish Bench” (1999) and “Sea Gull Chair” by self-taught furniture maker Judy Kensley McKie are unique and functional bronzes, which join her beloved pieces, “Lion” and “Elephant,” from the LongHouse permanent collection.
Dintenfass’s recent work, “Almost Like The Blues” (2017), is a colorful, wave-like sculpture made of vinyl mesh and steel, while Venet’s heavier but no less whimsical “Three Indeterminate Lines” (2003) offers a large, looping metal structure that’s exactly what the title describes—three loose lines drawn in three dimensions.
“Crosto Liquido” (2006), by Mennin, is a 72-inch granite square that looks like a real cushion, but it’s a heck of a lot harder. Crawford’s forged steel sculpture, “Accretion 3 (2011) is a compelling and precarious pair of 93-inch-tall towers that resemble stacks of blocks. Another addition to the gardens is Wilson’s pair of black and white figurative bronzes, “The Mete of the Muse” (2006), which take inspiration from ancient Egyptian and Roman art.
Rites of Spring opening this Saturday, April 29, from 2–5 p.m. at Jack Lenore Larsen’s LongHouse Reserve at 133 Hands Creek Road in East Hampton. Admission is $10 or free for members. Learn more at longhouse.org.