Unpacking 'Baggage': Charles McGill’s Powerful Final Works on View in Wainscott

Tripoli Gallery in Wainscott will present “Baggage,” the gallery’s first solo exhibition of works by the late Charles McGill, in partnership with curator Robert M. Rubin. The exhibition brings together pieces McGill created between 2011 and 2016 by deconstructing and reconfiguring fragments of old golf bags.

The exhibition opens Friday, September 19, and a public opening reception will be held Saturday, September 20, from 5 to 7 p.m. The work remains on view through October 25.

From early in his artistic journey, McGill — who began his career as a working golf pro at a Westchester country club before turning to art full time — identified his subject matter and leaned into it.

“Above all, however, he was an artist. When he wasn’t making art he was teaching art — he was a beloved professor at CUNY — looking at art and thinking about art. It’s evident in the myriad references in his work,” said Rubin, whose relationship with McGill spanned 25 years. “From Michelangelo’s tondos to Géricault’s raft to Nancy Grossman leatherheads, with nods to Guston, Chamberlain, Oldenburg, Johns and Basquiat, plus dollops of African primitivism and readymade anthropomorphism, Charles covered the waterfront of art history.”

“When Bob first introduced the work of Charles McGill to me, my initial reaction was of seeing something I wasn’t supposed to see — coated with a residue of meanings suggested by the artist’s unusual mark-making: wrestling with and repurposing fragments of old golf bags. Not just their skin and bones but their guts as well,” said Tripoli Patterson. “The work itself, like Charles, is biracial, in a fraught sometimes masochistic relationship with a sport that has not distinguished itself as inclusive.

“To me, Charles’s artistic practice takes a deeper dive into the sport and American culture — transforming its detritus into great abstract art, leaving a hint of his struggles with the game as a serious golfer and as a half white, half African American, with the sport’s milieu.”

Tripoli Gallery is located at 26 Ardsley Road in Wainscott. For information, visit tripoligallery.com.