Parrish Permanent Collection Installation 'Materiality And Process' Yields Nuanced Themes And Creative Threads

Each year, the permanent collection installation at the Parrish Art Museum rotates—filling five intimate galleries and a long corridor, or “spine,” that connects them—yielding nuanced themes and creative threads drawn from myriad objects in the museum’s collection.This year’s theme, “Materiality and Process,” evokes a series of visual concepts that go beyond the traditional painting-on-canvas grid. In the “gateway” gallery, which is reserved for large-scale contemporary works of art, there are several pieces that employ various materials blending abstract and representational art.

“We have a lot of objects this year that are paintings, theoretically, but aren’t necessarily created with paint. So, when we began to think of other works created with various types of materials, the scope of this year’s permanent collection exhibition came into being,” Parrish Art Museum Director Terrie Sultan said.

“‘Jingle’ by Kim MacConnel, got the conversation going for this year’s installment,” Ms. Sultan explained. “MacConnel came out of a movement in California called pattern and decoration, and ‘Jingle’—a series of flag banners that were cut and sewn together—offers up a new visual narrative. So it is partly abstract and partly representational. The gateway room is intended to give the viewer an avenue into an experience of materials and color, which is the unifying factor in all the galleries.”

Also represented in the gateway gallery is abstract expressionist Alfonso Ossorio. Ossorio, a longtime East Hampton resident, was a friend of Jackson Pollock, whose abstract way of using paint directly influenced Ossorio’s work. “This year, we were looking at a work by Ossorio called ‘Unsuccessful Tow’—mixed media on panel—and came up with the idea of materials, or ‘materiality,’” Ms. Sultan said. “With ‘Unsuccessful Tow,’ you can see elements of abstract composition: random materials—sea shells, plastic eyes and bones—that Ossorio assembled into the piece, creating a very interesting visual effect.”

An entire gallery at this year’s exhibition is dedicated to local Southampton artist Fairfield Porter. “There are some artists that visitors always want to see, and Porter is a major draw. We have 250 works by Porter in our collection, and people come from all around the world to see his art here at the Parrish,” Ms. Sultan said. Porter’s “Friends and Family” paintings on display this year play into the theme of abstract by uniting what Ms. Sultan called “color and form.”

“Porter was a quintessential American modernist painter influencing a generation of artists that came after him,” Ms. Sultan said. “He was engaged with artists like Roy Lichtenstein, whom he played chess with, and even though they didn’t paint anything like each other, Porter’s approach to making his art was very prescient. His artwork might look very normal now, but it was very modernist in its notions, and many of these works are being shown for the first time at this year’s permanent collection installment.”

Other works at this year’s exhibition fall in line with the concept of materiality, such as Al Souza’s “Cat Hair,” made out of jigsaw puzzle pieces. “It’s a riotous cacophony of color play and is a great example of abstract and representational art,” Ms. Sultan said. Another is “Aquarium” by Joe Zucker: Colorfully assembled cotton balls—upon closer inspection—yield images of tropical fish, once again lending itself to the concept of abstract form and materiality.

One final piece of note is “Sardinian Shepard” by Contantino Nivola, a bas-relief that was molded with sand from the beaches in Springs, where Nivola lived.

The use of natural light from skylights above in the museum play a significant role in the overall viewing experience, offering an organic perspective to works by Porter and Ossorio, both of whom created some of their works outdoors.

“These smaller galleries with skylights were designed to make you feel like you’re in the artist’s studio,” Ms. Sultan said. “Much of the work we have here is from the late 19th to early 20th century, and much of the works, including Fairfield Porter, were painted outside. So, each gallery really brings the visitor into that creative experience.”

She added, “The Parrish was purpose-built to this area, its artists, and the works in our collection.”

“Materiality and Process” will be on view until November 2017. For more information, visit parrishart.org or call 631-283-2118.