‘Some Odes' Opens at The Church

Concurrent with “Some of Tom’s Typewriters,” The Church will present an intimate exhibition on its main floor entitled “Some Odes: Sam Messer with Paul Auster, Eleanor Gaver, Denis Johnson, and Sharon Olds.” The show opens with a reception on Saturday, January 11, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and remains on view from January 12 to March 10.

This small-scale exhibition will focus on the confluence of ideas between artists and artistic media as they flow individually and within an artistic community. For more than 20 years, artist Sam Messer has created over 200 paintings of typewriters, which began as a distinct reflection on Paul Auster’s relationship to his machine and, over time, has evolved as “a form that innately represents language, communication between peoples, its association with both facts and fiction, the place where stories are recorded and invented,” according to Messer.

This “power object” bore great relevance to the many writers with whom Messer has shared close rapport — Paul Auster, Denis Johnson and Sharon Olds among them.

In addition to paintings and prints by Messer, the exhibition will include never-before-exhibited typed and handwritten notes by Auster and Johnson, as well as a typeset print by Sharon Olds created in dialogue with Messer. In addition, one large format “typewriter” painting will be shown that features Messer’s wife, Eleanor Gaver, a filmmaker with whom he has shared creative dialogue for more than 40 years. The show is a further contemplation of the role of the typewriter as a talisman as well as a tool in art.

The reception and exhibition is free and open to the public. The Church is at 48 Madison Street in Sag Harbor. Visit thechurchsagharbor.org for details.