Meet Audrey Flack, The Queen Of Hearts

On Friday, March 6, at 6 p.m., the Parrish Art Museum, in collaboration with Hamptons Doc Fest, will screen the 2019 documentary “Queen of Hearts: Audrey Flack.” This comprehensive look at the life and 70-year career of Parrish collection artist, sculptor, painter, feminist, and rebel artist follows Flack as she takes her work in a new direction and reveals her long-term struggles as the mother of a child with autism.

Flack will attend the screening and join a conversation with Parrish Director Terrie Sultan following the documentary. Created by Emmy-nominated and Academy Award-winning director Deborah Shaffer and co-directed by Rachel Rechman, the film is an official selection in seven international film festivals. “Queen of Hearts” is part of The Artist’s Lens documentary series co-presented with Doc Fest. The event is the first program of the Hamptons Arts Network 2020 “Thaw Fest,” a month-long celebration of arts and culture on the East End.

“I am thrilled to kick off ‘Thaw’ with the celebration of a woman artist who is a formidable pioneer in many genres — from Abstract Expressionism and Pop art to Photorealism and who keeps reinventing herself as an artist,” said Corinne Erni, senior curator of ArtsReach and special projects at the Parrish.

“This compelling documentary won both the Audience Award and the Art & Inspiration Award at our 2019 Hamptons Doc Fest,” said Jacqui Lofaro, executive director of the festival. “We are delighted to screen it again as the kick-off to the third annual ‘Thaw Fest’ and to co-present it with the Parrish, a museum that is proud to have Audrey Flack’s outstanding work in the collection since 1979.”

An official selection in international film festivals including Indie Grits, FIPA, Through Women’s Eyes, Cascadia, and Sonoma in 2020; and Hamptons Doc Fest and DOC NYC film festivals in 2019, Queen of Hearts is an intimate portrait of Audrey Flack. She holds a unique place in the history of contemporary art in America as an unstoppable trailblazer, from her early days as an Abstract Expressionist in the 1950s, to her successful career as the sole female Photorealist in the ’70s, to her monumental public sculptures of recent decades. Her groundbreaking work Wheel of Fortune (1977-78) — considered by many to be the first Photorealist painting — is part of the Parrish permanent collection and currently on view in the exhibition “What We See, How We See.” Flack, at age 88, is still creating work with her unique style and indomitable spirit.

Admission to the film is $15 ($5 for members and students). The Parrish Art Museum is at 279 Montauk Highway, Water Mill. Visit parrishart.org for details.