Two Artists Explore The Natural World

In a new exhibition at Guild Hall, Argentinian multidisciplinary artist Karin Waisman will present “The Horizon Is Not a Straight Line,” a site specific, 250-inch long cast resin and ceramic wall relief that investigates the notion of the border, conceiving it not as a straight line but a complex contact point between two elements that push and pull while continuing to support one another.

Waisman is an artist whose practice investigates the rhythmic cadence and pulsating patterns of nature. Her work includes large-scale public installations, wall reliefs, and drawings that explore our perception of the natural world — its fluid and contradictory processes, boundless growth, and imminent threat of disorder. Also included in the exhibition are two series of Waisman’s pencil drawings on mylar. The first, “Fragments of a Mountain” (2018–2021), studies the passage of geological time, absolute and determined by emptiness. Hundreds of years of erosion expose cavities in rock that hold humidity and debris. The second series, titled “The Ocean Drawings” (2012-2014), immerses the viewer into varying depths, currents, and temperatures, evoking oceanic currents that move viewers deeper, then closer to the surface. The final and earliest work, “Siren’s Beach” (1996), unfolds across the floor in a cast-aluminum sculpture depicting a segment of desiccated land fragmented into a maze of Pythagorean spirals. This is the most in-depth presentation of Waisman’s internationally exhibited collection of work to date.

Waisman, who was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and lives and works in New York, has completed commissions for institutions such as Espacio Escultórico del Desierto in San Luis Potosí, México; Museo del Barrio in New York City; Plattsburgh Sculpture Park at SUNY Plattsburgh; ART/OMI Sculpture Park in Ghent, New York; and Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the United States and internationally, including Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill.

“The Horizon is not a Straight Line” will be on view from Saturday, April 24, to Monday, May 31, in Guild Hall’s Woodhouse Gallery. The date for an opening reception and gallery talks will be determined.

Also on view in Guild Hall’s Moran and Spiga Galleries from April 24 to May 31 will be “Paradise,” featuring the work of Enoc Perez, a  contemporary  Puerto Rican-born multimedia  artist best known for his paintings and oil stick drawings. Perez’s Guild Hall exhibition will explore the theme of natural disasters. Through large-scale paintings, Perez refers to the devastation that Puerto Rico experienced during the 2017 Hurricane Maria. Instead of focusing on the physical destruction, the artist paints bent, but not broken, palm trees to represent the hope that Puerto Rico will move forward and recover. The exhibition will primarily be made up of works that have never been exhibited and it will include, paintings, sculpture and drawings that have been created specifically for this exhibition.

Perez is a critically acclaimed multidisciplinary artist living and working in Brooklyn, New York. The artist moved to New York in 1986, when he completed a BFA at Pratt Institute and then received an MFA in fine art from Hunter College. His artwork is in the collections of major museums including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The British Museum, London; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; New York Public Library; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; and The Museum of Contemporary Art, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

A gallery talk with Enoc Perez and curator Christina Mossaides Strassfield will take place on Saturday, May 22, at 3 p.m.

Guild Hall is at 158 Main Street in East Hampton. Reservations to visit the museum are recommended. Reserve timed tickets online at guildhall.org or by calling 631-324-0806 Friday to Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Drop-ins are also welcome. Masks and social distancing are required.