'Amy Sillman: To Abstract' Screens at Sag Harbor Cinema

The Church welcomes Art21 as a presenting partner in a special screening of the world premiere of a new short-format documentary on the life and work of acclaimed artist Amy Sillman. The screening takes place on Sunday, May 12, at 1:30 p.m. at Sag Harbor Cinema. Sillman and Art21 Executive Director Tina Kukielski will introduce the eight-minute film, which will be followed by a dialogue between Sillman and fellow painter David Salle.

Both David Salle and Amy Sillman have residences on the East End — Sillman on the North Fork and Salle on the South Fork. This program expands upon The Church’s mission of fostering creativity on the East End of Long Island and honoring the history of Sag Harbor as a maker’s village.

Amy Sillman was born in 1955 in Detroit, Michigan. Known for her vigorously materialist paintings, Sillman also works with animation, writing and large-scale installations. Her work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions and her works are held in the public collections of prominent institutions such as the Art Institute of Chicago, Brooklyn Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

David Salle helped define the post-modern sensibility by combining figuration with an extremely varied pictorial language. Solo exhibitions of his work have been held at museums and galleries worldwide and his paintings are in the permanent collections of major museums throughout America as well as Europe and Asia. Although known primarily as a painter, Salle’s work grows out of a long-standing involvement with performance. Over the last 35 years, he has worked with choreographer Karole Armitage, creating sets and costumes for many of her ballets and opera productions. He is a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books, and his collection of essays, “How To See: Looking, Talking, and Thinking About Art,” was published by W.W. Norton in 2016.

Art21 is a not-for-profit with the mission to educate and expand access to contemporary art through the production of documentary films, resources, and public programs. Its acclaimed short-format films are readily accessible online, as well as on television through its partnership with PBS.

Tickets are $25 ($20 members) at thechurchsagharbor.org. Sag Harbor Cinema is at 90 Main Street in Sag Harbor.