Southampton artist Darius Yektai, featured in The Church’s summer exhibition “Strike Fast, Dance Lightly: Artists on Boxing,” will speak on Sunday, July 30, at 10:30 a.m. on his work in the show as well as his artistic career and processes. Yektai’s work often pushes the boundaries of painting toward sculpture and sculpture toward painting. Having shown both nationally and internationally, Yektai’s technique involves both traditional and experimental approaches with his use of thick, tactile brushstrokes and sharp edges created by pouring resin directly onto the canvas.
Yektai is the son of Manoucher Yektai, a renowned painter who was instrumental in the Abstract Expressionism movement. With these deep-seeded art roots, Yektai has solidified his own style, with a youthful sense of urgency and fast spontaneity permeating his work. Yektai’s piece, “The Titans,” 2023, a large painterly sculpture, was created specifically for “Strike Fast Dance Lightly” and joins the checklists of world-renowned artists, all of whom grapple with the motif of boxing.
Stop by prior to Insight Sunday to view Yektai’s work, which will be on display from June 25 to September 3. The Church’s summer open hours are Wednesday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Darius Yektai was born in 1973 in Southampton, New York. He studied science and art at Occidental College in Los Angeles, California, and then received his bachelor of arts degree in Art History from the American University in Paris in 1996. Yektai has shown internationally in London and Dubai and has had several solo shows in New York and in the Hamptons including a solo survey of his early work at Guild Hall Museum in East Hampton in 2003, and then again more recently at the museum in the group show, “Yektai” with his father Manoucher Yektai and his brother Nico Yektai in 2017.
Admission to the talk is $10 at thechurchsagharbor.org. The Church is at 48 Madison Street in Sag Harbor.
Staff Writer on Jun 24, 2023