New Ground Covered At ArtHamptons

Art can entertain. It can move. It can speak.

But to catch the attention of actor Cheech Marin—best known as half of the comedic duo “Cheech & Chong”—art needs to be haunting.

“I have to think about it for days after and go, ‘Oh wow,’” Mr. Marin explained during a telephone interview last week while on the road in California. “And the image reoccurs to me. That’s how I know it’s a really good work of art.”

Nothing gives him that reaction quite like “Chicano” art, which captures the social, political and religious life of Mexican-Americans. It has inspired the self-declared Chicano—a Mexican-American equipped with a certain attitude—to be its champion, and with 400 paintings, Mr. Marin owns the largest Chicano art collection in the United States.

For his strong support, he will be presented the Arts Patron of the Year award at the fifth annual “ArtHamptons,” which opens on Thursday, July 12, on the 95-acre sculpture fields of Nova’s Ark in Bridgehampton.

“They said, ‘Hey, we’re going to honor you in the Hamptons,’ and I said, ‘Okay,’” Mr. Marin said, and then laughed, “It’s about damn time, you know?”

This year, more than 4,000 works of art, from post-war to contemporary pieces—worth a collective $200 million—will be brought in by nearly 80 galleries from 10 different countries and set up inside a 50,000-square-foot modular building on the grounds.

Another high point of this year’s event is the “Pollock at 100: A Centennial Celebration,” which will pay tribute to Jackson Pollock and his contributions to the art world. For this event, the building’s lobby will be fitted with an exact replica of the abstract expressionist’s paint-splattered studio floor in Springs in honor of what would have been his 100th birthday this year. The iconic artist died in 1956.

Throughout the weekend, there will be close to 30 different public and private parties and events honoring a number of other artistic figures, including this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, Ed Moses, and Honorary Guest Photographer Michael Childers. And on Friday, photographer Lisa Jack will unveil her installation, “Barack Obama: The Freshman +1,” for the first time on the East Coast.

“The reason we staged ‘ArtHamptons’ is a celebration of ourselves, as we all live here, and the Hamptons’ great tradition in art,” founder Rick Friedman explained during a telephone interview last week. “This was, and is, a powerhouse place for art. In a sense, the whole mission I have is to celebrate our existence here as an art mecca.”

Prices will vary from booth to booth, he said, though there will be art at every budget level—starting at around $1,000 to the hundreds of thousands for the Masters, he said.

“It’s a very strong showcase of work,” Mr. Friedman reported. “Yares Art Projects, he’s going to bring in 25- to 30 million dollars of art in his booth. He’s got a 6-foot, 7-foot Helen Frankenthaler, eight or 10 of Milton Avery. He’s the real deal. If you want to buy museum-quality art, this guy’s selling it.”

There will be no shortage of up-and-coming dealers and artists as well, Mr. Friedman explained. For example, Mr. Marin will be introducing a handful of new Chicano artists, including Carlos Donjuan and Ricardo Ruiz, at the Thomas Paul Fine Art booth. Prices there will range from $5,000 to $20,000 per piece.

“He’s going to be showing four or five new Chicano artists who he calls the next wave of great Chicano art,” Mr. Friedman explained. “He’s not a gallerist, per se, but he’s curating the exhibit. He’ll be at the booth at all times. How cool is it to go down to his show and buy a painting from a movie star?”

Mr. Marin’s interest in art stems from his Catholic upbringing, he said. He simply couldn’t escape it in his church—from the paintings and sculptures to the stained glass windows and fine metalwork.

But he didn’t have a knack for creating art himself.

“As a kid, art meant drawing and I just didn’t have a facility for it,” he wrote in a recently published article in The Huffington Post. “I thought you were either good at it or not, like you could either run fast or not, or you were either tall or not.”

He decided at the age of 11 that if he couldn’t make art, he would study it. He went to his local library and checked out all the art books he could get his hands on, so by the time he could afford art, he knew what was good.

It was on the set of “Born in East L.A.,” his first solo project after working with his partner Tommy Chong for 17 years, that he became reacquainted with his Chicano roots. He learned more Spanish and spent time with other Chicano actors and artists.

By 1985, he had stumbled upon Chicano art. Then he began collecting in earnest.

“I recognized the quality of the painting because I’d been studying art all my life, going to museums and seeing art,” Mr. Marin said. “I thought, ‘These guys are really good: technically, emotionally, intellectually. How come I haven’t heard of them?’”

They weren’t getting any traction in the art world, and on some level, not taken seriously, Mr. Marin said.

“People basically don’t know what Chicano is or much less what their art looks like,” he said. “We’re in the process of instruction right now, and discovery. My mantra for all these years is, ‘You can’t love or hate Chicano art unless you see it.’ Everyone’s in the process of seeing it. Back east in the Hamptons and New York, they have no idea what Chicano art is. It’s like discovering a new restaurant nobody knows about that you love once you eat the food.”

“Chicano,” by definition, is an American citizen with Mexican origin or descent. But socially, it means so much more. It is a decision to be Chicano, Mr. Marin said, and with it comes a certain identity that is constantly evolving.

“With art, they’re discussing how they experience this country and how they are both seen and how they see themselves in relation to the population,” he said. “Chicanos, especially in Hollywood, and I have a little bit of experience, they’re never given credit for sophistication, when, in fact, we come from an extremely sophisticated cultural background. I laugh at it; some people resent it. I’ve always thought it was hilarious.”

It is a stereotype that has informed many of his decisions in the entertainment industry, particularly early on in his career, Mr. Marin said. And those stereotypes are also reflected in Chicano art.

“Absolutely. One of the characteristics is sophistication and naïveté simultaneously,” he said. “They use very naïve symbols in sophisticated manners, and they’re aware of it. That’s the part most people don’t get: that we’re very aware of how we’re perceived and how we perceive ourselves. We are playing with our own image and the other image people have of it. We are in on the joke.”

The fifth annual “ArtHamptons” will be held at the sculpture fields of Nova’s Ark in Bridgehampton. The event will begin with an opening preview party on Thursday, July 12, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. and a VIP opening reception from 7 to 9 p.m. to benefit the LongHouse Reserve in East Hampton. The fair will continue on Friday, July 13, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday, July 14, and Sunday, July 15, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tickets are $25, $40 for a three-day pass, $100 to attend the VIP opening reception and $125 to include the opening preview party. Gate proceeds from each day will benefit Guild Hall in East Hampton, the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in Springs and East End Hospice in Westhampton Beach. For tickets and more information, call 324-0806 or visit arthamptons.com.