Artists Thinking Inside the Box

“In Boxes,” a three-person art exhibition curated by North Haven artist and resident Dan Rizzie, opens at MM Fine Art in Southampton on Saturday, November 23, with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. The show runs through December 8 and features work by assemblage and collage artists Jim Gemake, Susan Lazarus-Reimen and Jeanelle Myers

Water Mill’s Gemake, a self-taught artist who uses found or discarded objects in his work, creates his assemblages from objects such as scraps of paper, pieces of wood or rusted metal. By composing the discarded objects into something new or different, he gives them a second life and a new meaning.

North Haven’s Lazarus-Reimen’s mixed-media work incorporates aspects of her printmaking, painting and found-object collage work, resulting in pieces that contain an evocative and dreamlike narrative.

Myers, who lives in Sag Harbor, is recognized for her intensely detailed pieces that incorporate small found objects, mementos and embroidery into works as divergent as soft wall hangings and constructions that feature secret spaces.

"All objects have a history, how they were used, who made them, for what purpose, why were they discarded?” she asked. “I think about these things when I am working on a piece... I combine these things intuitively with no message in mind. It is left to the viewer to see from their own perspective."

Curator Dan Rizzie is an internationally acclaimed artist who has created a unique iconography of the natural world in paintings, collages, and prints. Rizzie is known for his detailed collage work and the textural quality of his surfaces. MM Fine Art is at 4 North Main Street, Southampton. For more information visit mmfineart.com.