Guild Hall Launches Mary Heilmann's Water Way & Joel Mesler's Miles of Smiles Exhibitions, Aug. 3-Oct. 26

Guild Hall is back in full swing this summer after an extensive $30 million two-year renovation. Appearing on stage in the newly restored and rechristened 299-seat Hilarie and Mitchell Morgan Theater in August alone will be Alec Baldwin, the New York City Ballet, veteran New York Times food & wine scribe Florence Fabricant, fashion designer Issac Mizrahi and former Hall & Oates lead guitarist and Saturday Night Live bandleader G.E. Smith.

Also opening this month in the adjacent, always-free museum is the same place that in 1949 hosted the first known museum exhibition of Abstract Expressionism featuring Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Lee Krasner—is another first-of-its-kind exhibit by two renowned local artists. From Aug. 3 through Oct. 26, the East Hampton landmark will be welcoming to its newly refurbished walls Mary Heilmann’s Water Way and Joel Mesler’s Miles of Smiles.

For both artists, the show represents their first large-scale museum exhibit on the East End. “Mary and Joel are internationally recognized artists with deep ties to the area, which resonates throughout their work,” said Guild Hall museum director and curator of visual arts Melanie Crader, who curated the exhibits with the support of museum manager and registrar Philipa Content, and museum coordinator and curatorial associate Claire Hunter.

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“Water Way brings together 40 carefully chosen pieces from the 1980s to the present, including paintings, watercolors, and ceramics where water is one of the dominant themes. Joel will be doing a site-specific installation resembling his office and studio spanning a wider range of his work. We are very excited about presenting this complementary yet distinctive intergenerational pairing.”

Heilmann, who wasn’t available for comment, is originally from California, where she grew up in both the Bay Area and Los Angeles and dove competitively as a teenager. Her love for diving eventually led to an interest and involvement in the West Coast surfing and beatnik cultures, all of which have played a major role in her work as an artist. Painting one of her first watercolors of the Pacific Ocean when she was sixteen, she describes her work as autobiographical, with the sand, sea and sky frequently serving as her backdrop and motif.

In 1968, Heilmann relocated to Manhattan where she still lives. She currently divides her time between the city and Bridgehampton, where she has had a home and art studio since the mid-90s.

“Mary has always prioritized living by water and it has had a profound impact on her work spanning four decades,” said Crader. “We are really thrilled to be able to bring it together in one place here at Guild Hall. Her earliest piece is from 1980. There are several works that haven’t been shown since the late ‘90s or early 2000s, including one on loan to us from the Whitney Museum, as well as others that have never been seen before by the public.

“One of the exhibit’s most exciting elements is to see her breadth of representation within this theme, and how she uses ceramics, watercolors and painting in various ways to depict water. She is also really known for her geometric abstraction and bold color palette, which will be another interesting aspect in terms of how she looks at the sunset and the moonlight and how that affects the landscape. One of the watercolors is called ‘Golden Beam,’ which depicts a sunset on the water. Another is called ‘Geometric Break.’ This is basically a wave break in which you see how she minimizes it into a geometric form.”

As for Mesler, his rainbow-inspired Miles of Smiles exhibit features a number of his original paintings. alongside furniture, photos and other eclectic pieces from his personal collection featuring select works by other fellow artists, all of whom he shares deep personal ties with. Among them are Sarah Abel, Rashid Johnson, Henry Taylor, Austyn Weiner, Rashid Johnson, Mauricio Laskansky Ben Shahn and Francesco Clemente.

“In addition to my own paintings, I like to surround myself with artworks by my friends and contemporaries who have influenced me,” explained Mesler, a former art dealer, who is also a California native and New York transplant. In 2017, he moved to Sag Harbor with his family, where he initially owned Rental Gallery and continued to paint while promoting other artists, but is now a full time artist.

Like Heilmann, Mesler characterizes his work as autobiographical, while shedding light on universal themes through self-deprecation and compositional juxtaposition. In his paintings such as “Untitled (Don’t Cry)” and “Untitled (Vessel),” which will be in the exhibit, he often incorporates elaborate typography, graphic patterns and motifs. One of his personal favorites is the font from the iconic children’s board game Candy Land, which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary and is depicted in his 2021 painting “Play the Hits.”

“As a young kid, I used to play Candy Land with my mother and younger brother, so the game has a lot of fond memories and I feel like I can use that particular font to say a lot in my work, whether its about joy or deserving great things,” Mesler said.

Alongside the various pieces on display will be a series of related programs and limited-edition merchandise, including tote bags featuring Heilmann’s 2024 “Blue Sky Spot and Miles of Smiles baseball caps embroidered with Mesler’s favorite moniker, “You Deserve Great Things.” Mesler, who will be hosting office hours during the exhibit, also has a pop-up Smile Shop in the Pamela and Edward Panzer Lobby Gallery, where he will be peddling other wares he has designed, including charm necklaces, plushies, bathrobes, ceramics, wallpaper and more.

For more information, visit guildhall.org or follow Guild Hall on Instagram at @GuildHall and Facebook.