Sunrise on the East End
E a s t E n d S t o r i e s
East End Stories is an online retrospective show accompanied by a narrative blog, a journal recounting my impressions of moving to Eastern Long Island thirty years ago this summer. The stories are written as entries and the paintings are in the gallery section of the site. It chronicles my experiences and the artwork I made just before and after I moved here. Many of the works in the show chronicle the changes I’ve witnessed to the East End, before and after my arrival. Some stories revisit a time or a place that may not exist today. There’s been a lot of development since I moved here. Farms have turned into sub-divisions. Old houses have been replaced with mega mansions. The value of real estate has gone up here as much as anywhere in America. It’s more crowded than ever. Every summer the traffic gets worse. Still, it’s not that difficult to find a quiet place to work. There are many open vistas and trails that lead to places no one else goes. You just have to try a little harder to get there.
Having a show online confronts the idea of having a show in a gallery setting. You can show as many works as you can upload but it’s not the same experience as looking at a painting in person. Not even close. You can’t feel the presence of a large painting or quite see the under-painting or the texture of the brushstrokes, even with a curtain size computer screen. Works are cropped instead of framed and they all appear more or less the same size. You can’t step back, take it all in and then walk up to get close enough where your nose is almost on the painting. Zooming in and out isn’t the same thing. That’s why the works are meant to coordinate with the blog that tells a story behind the paintings. The pieces span the years where I’ve discovered different places to work. Many of these works here are in private collections. Others are in my own collections and can be seen in person at my studio. Visitors are welcome so if you’re on the East End of Long Island this summer please feel free to contact me. I’ll add other stories as the summer goes on so come back and revisit blog.
American Art collector, June 2018
