'Karen May: Artforum Interventions'

The Little Gallery at The Arts Center at Duck Creek will present “Karen May: Artforum Interventions,” a two-part exhibition in collaboration with NIAD (Nurturing Independence Through Artistic Development). The show opens with a reception on Saturday, June 8, from 5 to 7 p.m. and will also be presented in NIAD’s archive of curated online exhibitions. The show remains on view through July 7.

NIAD’s visual arts studio program gives people with disabilities the skills and experience to express themselves, be independent and earn income as artists. Karen May has been a prolific part of this program for over a decade, and this exhibit will feature a selection of her drawings on Artforum advertisements. Artforum magazine, known for its iconic 10.5” x 10.5” square format since 1962, is instantly recognizable to contemporary art enthusiasts. Critic Jerry Saltz once described Artforum as “where the art world does its peacocking,” noting that advertisements constitute 70 percent of the magazine.

Karen May’s drawings and paintings are vibrant, dynamic abstractions, often densely packed with color, pattern and mark making. But in response to the Artforum ads, her approach becomes more complex, complementing and contrasting the underlying imagery. In one ad, her activation of the negative space forms a mass of disparate, colorful objects, including a Ken Price sculpture. In another, May animates the empty white walls of Galerie Perrotin by mimicking its architecture with bright, wriggling marks, that compress the space in their wake.

This contrast between the magazine’s clean precision and May’s voracious, instinctive drawing underscores the gap between the genuine urge to create art, and the glossy presentation of that urge when it’s been packaged for sale.

The Arts Center at Duck Creek is at 127 Squaw Road in East Hampton. For more information, visit duckcreekarts.org or call 631-604-8464.