EXHIBITIONS

A flotilla of black ships occupies the room, each set on a polished concrete plinth with a white top as shiny as the moonlit sea in a 19th-century photograph. Varying in scale, the sailboats recall hobbyist models familiar to this region—or to any seafaring community with a culture of leisure craft. Though perfectly still, the shadowy vessels appear to strain against invisible headwinds. In fact, each is titled after one of the world’s named winds—mistral, pueche, santa ana, tramontane,and others. As the show’s title, sculpting wind,suggests, the artist imagines the ships carving their way through the gusts that propel them, like blades slicing the air. And yet, despite their physical immediacy and graphic force, the title of the exhibition—and of each work—suggests that the boats themselves may not be the true subject.

Books from Dash’s library in the exhibition include volumes dedicated to Dash by Kurt Vonnegut and Peter Matthiessen. Author, artist and farmer Marilee Foster rounds out the show with a painting of two cucumbers speaking to each other on a farm field, in a piece titled, In the end they’d have to sell the farm. 

The exhibition, titled after a Kurt Vonnegut collection of his own commencement speeches, examines Sagaponack as a uniquely American town with artists, writers and farmers living side-by-side. Artworks by Robert Dash (shown above), Jill Krementz, Marilee Foster, Pingree Louchheim and Loren Dunlap show a gentler side of our Village. Steve Miller brings the tradition forward with his 2021 painting Favela Forest, (2021) drawing on his travels to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro and his residency in Cerne, Switzerland, home to the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). 

Books from Dash’s library in the exhibition include volumes dedicated to Dash by Kurt Vonnegut and Peter Matthiessen. Author, artist and farmer Marilee Foster rounds out the show with a painting of two cucumbers speaking to each other on a farm field, in a piece titled, In the end they’d have to sell the farm. 

The first time I met Bob Dash I was a budding photographic aesthete of fifteen, brought to Madoo for drinks and dinner… The evening remains indelibly burned into my mind forty-five years later… Looking at some of my pictures, he diplomatically declared that I had a “good eye,” which I did not forget.

Returning to Sagaponack in 2013, months before Dash’s death, Light reminded Bob of this comment, and he snorted back “not only one, but ya got TWO of ‘em!”

Raised in Amagansett at what would eventually become Quail Hill Farm, Light returned as a part-time resident to the East End following the pandemic. A homecoming of sorts for Light, Two of ‘Em is an immersive installation comprised of three large photo books displayed in conversation with each other, one depicting summer nudes of a close friend as a kind of garden statuary, another the vulnerable beech forests of Stony Hill and the decimated pitch pines of Napeague, and the third, images of the gardens at Madoo. Larger prints emanate from these books, interspersed in a wall installation, mingling poetically, inviting new associations and interpretations.

The exhibition takes its title from a poem by Ayisha Siddiqa, reflecting both artists’ connection to the natural world, and their concern for humanity’s impact on it: 

“The earth remembers everything,
our bodies are the color of the earth and we
are nobodies.
Been born from so many apocalypses, what’s one more?
Love is still the only revenge. It grows each time the earth
is set on fire.”

Both artists, connected by place, though utilizing unique mediums and perspectives, invite viewers to reflect on their own connections to the natural world. Their works aim to create a dialogue between past and present, the material and the spiritual, the natural and the human made. By immersing themselves in the landscapes of the East End, Kriendler and Loewenberg offer a poignant reminder of the beauty and fragility of our natural surroundings, and a reminder that The Earth Remembers Everything.


The Forest Leads to the Sea, the exhibition of Jean-Philippe Delhomme conceived specifically for Madoo, brings together landscape paintings executed in two locations dear to the artist’s heart, a Greek island where he sojourns several times throughout the year and the countryside around a family residence in France. The works were executed from direct observation of the landscape and not mediated through photography. The leisurely pace of the country painting invites one to walk along bucolic paths or lay in the grass, while the Greek landscapes position the observer in a stationary lookout towards the sea. In The Forest Leads to the Sea we can see nods to artists he admires like Alex Katz, Fairfield Porter, Milton Avery, and the presentation in the Long Island location grants a fortuitous proximity with these American painters.

In his quintessential paintings of Sagaponack in the 1970’s, Robert Dash captured not only its landscape, people and architecture, he captured its vibe. And recognized the divide for which the groundwork was already being laid by the 1970s. This exhibition offers a pertinent and prescient juxtaposition of the two worlds that inhabit the Hamptons. One, of privileged leisure, and the other, of the indispensable but “unseen” workers who create the backdrop. Three paintings depict the tennis courts of Georgica Association and two are Sagaponack street scenes with work trucks.

Georgica Association #28, 1974
Acrylic on linen
70 x 60”

“Animals such as these form a profound part of ourselves—their images set in place when we are children. It is not necessary to have seen droves of migrating wildebeests to feel a familiarity, even a kinship, with the way they stand, run, or bow their heads to drink.”  —Richard Kalina,
Keith Sonnier: Recent WorkPace Gallery, 2008

Keith Sonnier: Selections from the Herd Series features three neon sculptures and ten works on paper from 2006 – 2008. The abstract sculptures of the Herd series draw their inspiration from Africa and the wild animals of the Safari. Sonnier, a talented draftsman, immersed himself in studies of bone relics of Mastodons and other herd animals in the photographic archives and dioramas at the Museum of Natural History before embarking on the series. His process is revealed in the expressive and spontaneous works on paper which served as studies for the sculptures.    

Keith Sonnier
Kgama, 2007, Steel, paint, neon, neoprene, rubber and transformer,
83 x 35 x 40 inches

The practice of still life painting is timeless. Yet, what it is most concerned with is time. Through the forced isolation of the pandemic, Dan McCleary has focused exclusively upon painting the silent life of fruit and flowers. But illusion is secondary, the byproduct of acute observation and putting brush to canvas. Chasing time, recorded with color and line, the by and by changing flowers and fruit depicted in McCleary’s intimate paintings are captured just moments before imperceptible shifts appear inevitable. These still lifes live, offering a glimpse into the artist’s perception of that moment.

As part of this exhibition McCleary will be teaching a five-day, print-making course at the Madoo Conservancy for students of the Bridgehampton Child Care & Recreational Center and The Bridgehampton High School. This is based on his work at Art Division, a non-profit (501)(c)3  organization dedicated to training and supporting under-served youth who are committed to studying the visual arts. Art Division distinguishes itself by providing in-depth services to young adults aged 18-27.

Mixed Flowers with Yellow Roses 12.23.22, 2022
Oil on canvas

Elizabeth Hazan, an artist who mines the fertile territory between abstraction and representation, spent a significant period of her childhood on the East End of Long Island, surrounded by the open farm fields moments from the ocean, but also by the palpable history of painting - the Action and Color Field paintings of the Abstract Expressionists and the concurrent avantgarde landscape painters. In Hazan’s work, painted as if hovering from above, time and space are collapsed into a heightened version of nature truer to experience, both internal and external. Imagery is a mixture of invention and recollection; meandering lines, both intuitive and decisive, loop the canvas loosely containing the soft-edge, idiosyncratic fields of rich color. 

Potato Field/Dusk, 2023
oil on linen, 66 x 55 inches

I do not paint in the way that I garden or garden as I would employ the brush although the process is often the same. — Robert Dash       

The mid 80’s marked a profound shift in creative focus for Robert Dash in both painting and gardening. Extending beyond the “secret garden” in the courtyard of the summer house, Dash, immersed in the study of garden design and history, approached the land like he did a canvas, an uncharted territory primed for whimsical solemnity. Renowned for his bucolic depictions of the Sagaponack landscape from the 1970’s, influenced by his close relationship with Fairfield Porter, upon his return from a sojourn in Brazil, Dash changed his wrist, literally and figuratively to reflect a freedom with a whole new set of references. While the paintings in the exhibition retain elements of their precursors and anticipate their successors, they mark a definitive departure into the world of expressionism and abstraction.

Robert Dash, Breaking Corms, 1986,
Oil on linen, 76” x 76”

The Madoo Conservancy is pleased to present Susan Fisher: A Retrospective in Paintings, curated by Connie Rodgers Tilton, featuring work by the late Susan Fisher Haag whose career in abstract painting has been unseen for 25 years. The exhibition will be on view in the summer studio from September 24 through October 23, 2022.

The works on display at Madoo Conservancy represent a sample of her paintings from 1986 to 1997 as well as the last works of her life, a series of watercolors representing water scenes from a cherished location, Gibson Lane Beach. Ms. Fisher paused her full-time artistic pursuit in abstract painting in 1997, putting her brushes and canvas aside to focus on a career in graphic design. While she only casually painted during the remaining years of her life, her inherent work ethic produced a voluminous amount of art in a scant dozen years.

New LifeOil and wax on canvas
72 x 81 inches, diptych

Detritus 2020, a selection of serial works, are the result of Joe Zucker’s reflections upon past and present histories of Eastern Europe. Created while in isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic, the work is on view in the summer studio through September 17, 2022. As the world came to a standstill, Zucker used painting as a cure for malaise and Sholom Aleichem’s short stories as a guide in depicting the wreckage of Eastern Europe from violence and bloodshed. Re-using materials from the studio (cardboard, rubber flooring tiles, masking tape and felt tipped markers) to construct raw and powerful images of shtetls, Zucker has created a narrative that queries human existence when brutality is effortlessly overlooked and forgotten.

Read the New Criterion exhibition review here.

The Man From Europa, 2021 
Acrylic on interlocking floor mats
48 x 48 inches 

Robert Harms: Paintings is an exhibition featuring 11 paintings made over the past two years. In idyllic seclusion, Robert Harms practices his own brand of rustic lyricism from his cottage-like studio overlooking Little Fresh Pond in Southampton. Underlying his poetic approach to painting is a reliance upon intense observation of the subtle shifts in light and fleeting atmospheric effects inherent to this setting. But Harms’ “landscapes” are filtered through a devotion to abstraction seeded by formative personal relationships with first generation abstract expressionists. He does not paint the landscape, but evokes the experience of being in the landscape. Read the East Hampton Star review here.

Both Megumi Shauna Arai and FrancesPalmer have made new works in response to the unique Madoo environment. This is reflected in the oribe and kaki-colored glazes of Palmer’s wood fired vessels as well as the brightly colored noren and framed wall works – a new direction for Arai – yet, still the result of a natural dye process done by Arai in her Brooklyn studio. Palmer’s pots are hung salon-style on the walls and displayed on Dash’s own work tabletops and desks, including in the Red Living Room of the summerhouse. Inspiration for several of the works by Arai has come from the Zen poet and calligrapher Mitsuo Aida, a figure important to Arai throughout her life. Read the Glen Adamson essay on the exhibit here.

Curated by Eric Brown

Our first exhibition of the 2022 season features artworks and poetry that were collected by Madoo founder Robert Dash and tell a story of life on the East End in simpler times. Curator and painter Eric Brown has assembled a selection of works along with furniture and pottery from Madoo in the summer studio. Originally, Dash’s collection hung throughout both houses on the property along with original manuscripts (now in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University) of poetry by James Schuyler, Frank O’Hara, John Ashberry, Douglas Crase and others. Exhibited to the public for the first time, this grouping of works, as Brown says, “…is about connection, friendship, and the vibrant artist community of the East End of Long Island that sprouted in the 1950s. Along with Dash, many of the artists — including Willem and Elaine de Kooning, Fairfield Porter, and Jane Freilicher — were at the center of a fertile and creative community.”

The exhibition is accompanied by an essay by poet Douglas Crase

Alex Katz
Robert Dash ca. 1958
oil on canvas on wood

Since the passing of Robert Dash (1931-2013), The Madoo Conservancy has been acquiring his works with the intention of improving and expanding our collection. Recent additions through purchase and donation include several important examples of his work from the early 1960s to the late 1970s. Untitled (1961) was used as the image on the announcement for Dash’s first New York exhibition at Barone Gallery. Of special importance are works that document the story of Madoo, and two paintings in the exhibition depict vignettes of the interior and exterior of The Summer House and Studio. Dining, Spring (1972) is an intimate painting of Robert Dash’s dining room with a view of Foster Farm through the large, central windows, and Untitled: Arbor at Madoo (1970) shows a long gone arbor and the original white trim and brown shingle color story of The Summer Studio. Finally, the large painting, After a Downpour, I (1977) and the work on paper, To Bridgehampton (1976), reveal Dash’s mastery of brushstroke and unique palette, depicting the often returned to scene of Sagg Main Street.

In This room needs flowers., Spencer Finch presents five intimate works that speak poetically to the patience and persistence of the avid gardener. Employing watercolor, woodblock and photography, Finch creates work that feels constructed of color, time, light and air - recording and mimicking natural phenomena of falling leaves and cherry blossoms, chronicling blooms and observing the subtleties of a day in the life of a daisy. This room needs flowers. takes its name from a line in the poem Afterward by Robert Dash’s close friend and collaborator James Schuyler.

Spencer Finch (born 1962, New Haven, CT) has exhibited extensively in the US and internationally. Recent major projects include Fifteen Stones (Ryoanji) at the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona, Spain (2018); A Cloud Index, a site-specific commission for Paddington Station in London (2018); and Trying To Remember the Color of the Sky on That September Morning, for the 9/11 Memorial, New York, NY (2014). His work can be found in collections including The Hirshhorn Museum, The National Gallery of Art, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and The Whitney Museum of American Art. Spencer Finch lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Billy Sullivan: Flowers & Birds features nine still-life paintings and drawings, most of which were completed within the past year — a time of profound upheaval that has nevertheless seemed intractably stilled, indefinitely paused. Billy Sullivan has described his work as “basically a diary of my life,” and these recent works, predominantly floral, are marked by brief moments of focus and oblique clues. One outlier, Bob’s Vase cites Madoo itself, presenting a mysterious object from Robert Dash’s collection. The antique-looking, bulging glass vessel with verdigris brass handles somehow manages to hold its own against the scrawled red walls of the summer house living room.

Billy Sullivan has exhibited nationally and internationally since 1971. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Parrish Art Museum, Guild Hall of East Hampton, as well as many other collections, both public and private. He lives and works in New York City and East Hampton.

These 16 works on paper reveal Howey’s recent explorations into the intimate immediacy of watercolor and offer a fresh perspective on Howey’s process and its conceptual underpinnings. In this series, the fluidity and sensual gesture of watercolor are at the fore, emphasized even more through the occasional occurrence of punctuation by small, opaque, hard-edged geometric forms. Howey succeeds in creating a sophisticated and idiosyncratic pictorial language that references primitive hieroglyphics and imbues post-minimal abstraction with the mysticism of Tantric art. Primal and spontaneous, contemplative and urbane, these works reveal an artist playing seriously.

Nicholas Howey lives and works in Bridgehampton, NY. Born in DuBois, Pennsylvania, Howey received a BA from The University of Pittsburgh and an MA from New York University. Howey has exhibited nationally and internationally with solo shows in New York, Italy, France and Belgium.

Robert Dash: Early Landscapes takes its cue from Madoo’s recent acquisition of a seminal painting which served as the announcement card image for his first solo exhibition at Barone Gallery in New York City in 1961. The twelve paintings from 1960-61 in the current exhibition mark the transition in Dash’s work from his earliest forays in painting to Painting per se, encouraged by his close friendships with the artists Fairfield Porter and Alex Katz and the poets James Schuyler and John Ashbery. Always inspired by the landscape, yet never a plein air painter, Dash depended upon memory, imagination, and invention to construct verdant landscapes of pigment and brushstrokes imbued with a poets’ knack for creating fact through fiction. These early paintings firmly established Dash’s reputation as a young painter of tremendous promise and introduced conceptual and aesthetic concerns inherent in his work throughout his career.

The prints in the exhibition are a continuation Dash’s quintessential paintings of the Sagaponack landscape from the 1970s—80s. Employing a variety of techniques including lithography, serigraphy, and pochoir, they reveal the reciprocal relationship between painting and printmaking in his work. Pochoir offered Dash the possibility of placing a singular composition into a state of flux, altering colors, shifting focal points and playing with positive and negative space. In 2006, Dash took a stack of unsigned, uneditioned serigraphs produced in 1972, gessoed over them, and created a large series of palimpsests, poetic gestures capturing the disappearing spirit of the Sagaponack once home only to farms and artists and writers.

Marina Adams is considered one of the foremost non-objective artists working today, known for monumental paintings composed of vast areas of vibrant color within organic geometries. Though the smaller scale of the paintings in Marina Adams: SongLines implies and lends itself to moments of intimate contemplation, it also creates a tension, both physical and metaphysical, where pulsating colors are barely contained and push the boundaries of the canvas.

The site-specific installation, Laurie Lambrecht: Limn to Limb, celebrates the legacy of Robert Dash’s gardens by responding to Madoo’s environment and brightly-painted structural details with interventions that include photography, printmaking, weaving, and knitting. Limn to Limb comprises three elements: large-scale prints of tree bark, hand-knitted covers for stones, weavings with photo printed fabric, and the use of hand-dyed twine and burlap as a decorative, contrasting element on the grounds. The exhibition is part of Parrish Road Show, the Parrish Art Museum’s off-site cultural engagement program.

“The field was tended and cherished like any object of vertu. Unlike porcelain, however, whose pieces may be glued, the field is valueless and irreclaimable, the light of centuries of harvest snuffed.”
—Robert Dash, Notes from Madoo

Fields and Fences: Paintings 1998-99 is a series of paintings indebted to Robert Dash’s well-known paintings from the 1960s and 70s of a now all but vanished Sagaponack landscape. Vibrant orange and yellow, pink and red, laid down with brushstrokes alternately fluid and harsh, push past the now ambiguous forms (fence or phallus) carefully scrawled in dark gestural lines of charcoal.