Highlights from Upstate Art Weekend

  Michelangelo Pistoletto at Magazzino Italian Art in Cold Springs
 

By PAUL LASTER, September 2020

Venturing to Upstate New York and Western Massachusetts for Upstate Art Weekend, Renée Riccardo and I took the train from Grand Central Station to Croton Falls to pick-up a rental car before heading to Magazzino Italian Art in Cold Springs. After admiring Arte Povera pieces from the fetching collection, we traveled to Rhinebeck to visit architect Steven Holl’s ‘T’ Space, but a downed tree blocked the road so we moved on to Woodstock, where we had booked an Airbnb for four days.

We left early the next morning for MASS MoCA in North Adams, where we caught two sensational, newly opened exhibitions—Ad Minoliti's Fantasías Modulares and Blane De St. Croix's How to Move a Landscape—and then roamed through the fascinating presentations of works by Louise Bourgeois, Sarah Oppenheimer, Sol LeWitt, Ledelle Moe and Franz West. Journeying to the nearby Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, we were captivated by the collection of classical, modernist and Old Master artworks, and a contemporary exhibition of hanging fabric sculptures by Pia Camil. 

Mario Merz at Magazzino Italian Art in Cold Springs 

Next stop was Hudson, where we hit the galleries and shops—including Pamela Salisbury, Antigo, September, Ornamentum, Susan Eley Fine Art and the The Hudson Eye exhibition at Hudson Hall—before calling it a day. The following morning, we strolled the streets of Woodstock and then drove to Stoneleaf Retreat, the organizer of Upstate Art Weekend, to view a selection of indoor and outdoor projects and to roam the three-year-old artist residency’s verdant grounds.

From there, it was a short drive to the Starlite Motel, where works by Hope Gangloff, Liz Collins, Jeffrey Gibson and others were wonderfully installed around the restored 1960s motor lodge. Driving on to Germantown, we visited Alexander Gray Associate’s Upstate outpost to see Jennie C. Jones’s smart-looking show of acoustic panel paintings before moving on to Chatham, where Donna Moylan was premiering new, poetic paintings that enchantingly reflect the local landscape at Thompson Giroux Gallery. 

Luciano Fabro and Jannis Kounellis at Magazzino Italian Art in Cold Springs

On our final full day, we went for a marvelous morning tour of Manitoga, the former home and 75-acre woodland garden of industrial designer Russel Wright, in Garrison. Minutes away was Beacon, where we pondered shows at Mother Gallery and Parts & Labor prior to a walkthrough DIA Beacon, where we were taken by sprawling installations of powerful works by Andy Warhol, John Chamberlain, Sam Gilliam, Imi Knoebel, Dan Flavin and others. Wrapping up the day in Rhinebeck, we made it back to see paintings and sculptures by Hiroyuki Hamada at 'T' Space—a delightful end to our 600-mile art crawl. WM

Ad Minoliti at MASS MoCA in North Adams

Blane De St. Croix at MASS MoCA in North Adams

Louise Bourgeois at MASS MoCA in North Adams

Sarah Oppenheimer at MASS MoCA in North Adams

Sol LeWitt at MASS MoCA in North Adams

Ledelle Moe at MASS MoCA in North Adams

Franz West at MASS MoCA in North Adams

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux at The Clark in Williamstown

Pierre-Auguste Renoir at The Clark in Williamstown

Edgar Degas at The Clark in Williamstown

Pia Camil at The Clark in Williamstown

Donald Baechler at Pamela Salisbury Gallery in Hudson

David Humphrey at Pamela Salisbury Gallery in Hudson

Martha Clippinger at Pamela Salisbury Gallery in Hudson

Charles Yuen at Pamela Salisbury Gallery in Hudson

Earl Swanigan at Antigo in Hudson

 Filiz Soyak at The Hudson Eye at Hudson Hall in Hudson

 Ashley Garrett at SEPTEMBER in Hudson

Iris Eichenberg at Ornamentum in Hudson

Kathy Osborn at Susan Eley Fine Art in Hudson

 Carl Van Brunt at Woodstock Artists Association and Museum

 Beverly's at Stoneleaf Retreat in Kingston

Keisha Scarville at Stoneleaf Retreat in Kingston

Rebecca Reeve at Stoneleaf Retreat in Kingston

Dana Robinson at Stoneleaf Retreat in Kingston

Hope Gangloff at Starlite Motel in Kerhonkson

 Jeffrey Gibson at Starlite Motel in Kerhonkson

Liz Collins at Starlite Motel in Kerhonkson

Jennie C. Jones at Alexander Gray Associates in Germantown

Donna Moylan at Thompson Giroux Gallery in Chatham

Manitoga, the former home and woodland garden of industrial designer Russel Wright, in Garrison

 Manitoga, the former home and woodland garden of industrial designer Russel Wright, in Garrison

Manitoga, the former home and woodland garden of industrial designer Russel Wright, in Garrison

Chie Fueki at Mother Gallery in Beacon

Shara Hughes at Parts & Labor in Beacon

Lois Dodd at Parts & Labor in Beacon

Andy Warhol at DIA Beacon

 John Chamberlain at DIA Beacon

 Sam Gilliam at DIA Beacon

 Imi Knoebel at DIA Beacon

Dan Flavin at DIA Beacon

Hiroyuki Hamada at 'T' Space in Rhinebeck

Hiroyuki Hamada at 'T' Space in Rhinebeck

Hiroyuki Hamada at 'T' Space in Rhinebeck

Hiroyuki Hamada at 'T' Space in Rhinebeck