A Single Green Light: A Week in the Hamptons with James Salomon

By JAMES SALOMON, July 2019

All I can say for now is that I feel fortunate to have grown up on the East End of Long Island, and I have great friends and acquaintances.

This was shot in chronological order on an iPhone 6, from Wednesday morning July 3rd to Monday evening July 8th. There was some cropping and filtering in many but not all. Because I knew several of my subjects fairly well, I “saw” the image before I actually shot it. With others I sensed what felt right and just winged it when I got to the scene.

Thanks to all for your trust. It was really fun. WM

Fitzhugh Karol and I embarked on a journey to place some of his new sculptures out into the world this summer. We agreed to work with our mutual friend Max Fishko who runs many art fairs including one in Bridgehampton. He gave us prime real estate, as we are lowering a piece in front of the billboard tent across from Candy Kitchen on Route 27.

 

My friend Kelcey Edwards took me to Debi Wisch’s house, they’ve been working on a film project together. Almond Zigmund came by to talk about their recent trip to see Dave Hickey. I caught them sistering out w some rosé and Cap’n Crunch close at hand.



Got Lucite?

Carole Reed called me last month, asking if I’d like to co-host a party at this place called Donna Parker’s Ice Palace in Water Mill. I nervously agreed, because I can’t say no to Carole. Ice Palace?!?

After meeting Donna, my anxiety melted away. She knows what she likes. Go in there. Hurry.



Je suis Saint Esprit
Je suis sain d’esprit

Part of the epilogue in Julian Schnabel’s “At Eternity’s Gate”, a special Longhouse members' screening at the Guild Hall in East Hampton. He will be honored at the Longhouse Gala on July 20th.



My friends Will and Barbara rolled into Tate's Bake Shop in their Kenny Scharf Karbombz Ford Bronco. Five years ago I took Will to Kyle DeWoody’s party where he wound up smoking a funny cigarette with Kenny. He was soon looking online for cars to buy in the area... and nabbed this beauty in about an hour. We then drove it to The Surf Lodge in Montauk where Kenny worked his magic in the parking lot.



Darius is a pretty popular guy at the Bridgehampton Club.



This is what “His & Hers” studios looks like, albeit from afar, designed by Lee Skolnick.

It’s the quiet before the storm as Eric Fischl and April Gornik hold a fundraiser party for the Sag Harbor Cinema. April resurrected the theater from ashes. Literally.



What’s it All About, Alfie? - BB/HD

“Boyz Keep Swinging”, like its’ curator Maynard Monrow, is full of razzle-dazzle. We Heart Maynard. And Rob Wynne. Keyes Gallery at the American Hotel.

Maynard will also have his work shown at Edsel Williams’ Fireplace Project, which opens July 12th.

 

Alas, poor Yorick! - WS

Ned Smyth searches for old friends on Shelter Island.

I got to Nicole Miller just as she was about to head down to her beach at Genet Creek, so I hitched a ride. She handles that thing like a Bosslady.

Elena Frampton is a new friend thanks to the Parrish Contemporaries Circle. She just took on Daria Deshuk’s old studio and it looks terrific.

Mark Borghi “in action” at the gallery, sporting his Palm Beach tan, dealer-lean, looking attentive.

I saw Dianne Blell at the opening night of the fair, she invited me over for a drink and bite. She has this great funky house on Lumber Lane with a magnificent enchanted garden. Dianne is always full of energy and spirit, and occasionally hosts parties with amazing mexican food. Just don’t ask her for her caterer’s number, because she won’t give it to you.

Dianne’s houseguest was Rachel Ward, who can do a little more than load the dishwasher. She has a few things on her proverbial plate right now, including a doctoral dissertation on women media artists in New York 1970-90s.

 

Joyce Varvatos and her sister Susan were my first customers at my EH warehouse gallery in 2005. We held a screening for a documentary she just finished called Off the Canvas, featuring Holly Solomon and a handful of pioneering women art dealers.

She and her husband have been renting this cool 1950s home on the water for several years. Most of the original elements are still intact, including a back porch with the louvers.

Fiery haired Kelly Freeman is on fire this week, as director of  Market Art+Design. They had thousands (yes, thousands) show up at the opening the night before.

I caught her taking a break from it all, feeding the ducks in the pond. We just shooed away all the little green martians living in her oven.

I don’t see Carlton DeWoody as much as I’d like to these days, but so it goes. Move to the West Coast, beautiful wife, a few kids... fatherhood suits him well. I got him to carve some gentle turns on Lawrence Weiner’s OUT OF SIGHT installation at Longhouse Reserve, conceived as an educational initiative by art impresario (and pal) Larry Warsh.
 

The wonderfully unbridled honesty in Sally Egbert is one of the many things that makes her so special.

She took down a painting from her solo show at Duck Creek and put it in the sunlight with the Dennis Oppenheims.

I dropped in on Peter Dayton looking and acting like a mad scientist at his studio. We did a lot of fun projects together through the years. We sat down for a bit, shot the breeze, eventually started talking about IRAs, life insurance, adult crap. I hit the road before those uncomfortable realities started seeping into my skin.

Jordan Smith was holding court at Eric Firestone Gallery. I took a detail pic of one of my favorite artists Greg Bogin, part of a group show called “Shape, Rattle, and Roll”.

If it is a nest that you are seeking, then look no further than Sally Gillies. Her office is across the street from the fair so I popped in to bother her. The real estate game is uber competitive in that hood, but she somehow makes it work. We’ve known each other since Westhampton Beach High School. Through thick and thin, we have been.

Sophie Sutton and husband Jeff, doing what they do. They have an historic place in Westhampton, one of the few residences that survived the 1938 hurricane.

Several years ago I sat across from Sophie at a friend’s dinner. “You look so familiar... were you in Stereomongrel by any chance?”. Coincidentally, I bought a Luis Gispert film still from Zach Feuer that has her in the background of the composition. It hangs in my son’s room... so I suppose she is always present.

This 1969 Boston Whaler Nauset is how Brooke Smith rolls in Quiogue. She is an elementary public school art teacher in Bridgeport, CT.

She opens doors and raises bridges.
She was also my babysitter.
 

My friend Jen Going is part of the Motz family, prominent members of the Surf Club in Quogue. The Surf Club is an old school type of place with a hard shell that won’t be cracked or tampered with.

However, Jen and her siblings grew up as the darlings of this community, and they defy convention. I knew them only from afar, and they appeared to me as quirky and effortlessly cool.

Each family gets a bench.
 

Nick Martin pulleys up his son Klaus as we hear in the distance his wife Christina politely yet firmly reminding him that they are late for a social engagement. The clubs, the boards, the charities... I can’t even count that high with them.

But he’s really just a big kid.
 

My great friend Jeff Locker just built a house on Cranberry Hole Road, right across from Judy Hudson’s where Hala and I tied the knot. He asks me what he should put above the fireplace. I told him it all looks perfect and to keep it clean.

This qualifies me as one of the world’s shittiest art dealers.
 

Artists and brothers Daniel and Luis Cabrera at Toni Ross’ Coche Comedor, having a sibling standoff on a Steve Miller surfboard table.

Margaritas are Wowza.

 

Adrienne Conzelman’s new digs in Amagansett. Doing some heavy thinking about who’ll appreciate the Fonseca and Sultan most.
 

Claudja Bicahlo and husband Mark Wilson are a dynamic duo, one of several cultural and style ambassador couples in Amagansett and the Hamptons in general. Here she stands in front of one of his paintings at Lazy Point Variety.
 

I have known Johannes Vogt for many years, we once had galleries in the same building together on 26th Street... which is why I am embarrassed to say that after 5 summers I have never been to his barn project on Skimhampton till now. It is a real barn. It looks and smells like a real barn. And that’s what makes it so fucking cool.
 

Do Not Disturb Rowan & Scott.

All the surfers (and some artists, as Scott is both) know they can always roll up and get a hot shower at Georgica Beach.
 

Maziar Behrooz and I almost came to blows over the Arc House. We were arguing in the back alley by his office, luckily Mike Solomon happened to pass by and had to cool us down.

This marvel has a zany history that begins with yours truly. But we’ll save that for another occasion.

 

Take it easy, take it easy
Don’t let the sound of your own wheels
drive you crazy

We may lose and we may win
Though we will never be here again
So open up, I'm climbin' in
So take it easy - JB / GF

Big Rigger Andrew Logan has 40,000 acres of farm country in western New South Wales, Australia, but he likes to stay around here and play with his toys. He’s moved, lifted, pulled, and slung a lot art in his life.

The late Peter Marbury was a kind, gentle type of hippie guy that loved metal. And he was good with it. His studio in East Moriches was filled with crazy ideas that manifested in sculpture, furniture, cars, motorcycles... he created his own world and did whatever he wanted.

He is dearly missed by the community.
And me.
 

John Salomon used to take Jean to Willem “Bill” de Kooning’s studio in Springs when she was barely 20. She told me he liked her because her name was Van Hoesen, also Dutch. He probably liked more than that, but nevermind. She asked the artist once, regarding his own work, “How can you tell a good painting from a bad one?”

“I can’t,” he replied.