Drawn to the Light: The New Parrish

The incomparable Hamptons light has bewitched artists (and designers) for decades and I was intrigued to see how the great Herzog & de Meuron would harness it in their pastoral-chic design for the new Parrish Art Museum.

Clearly they got the memo.  Using organic materials to evoke the East End’s iconic peaked roofs and shingled farmhouses, the architects conjured a vast, open structure flooded with natural light. Skylights run the full length of the building and window walls at the north and south underscore the grand theme of Art and Nature.

After over 100 years in an increasingly cluttered Italianate mansion, the new Parrish offers a far more worthy showcase to its mind-blowing permanent collection.  Their roster of American Masters includes William Merritt Chase and Fairfield Porter, midcentury luminaries Willem de Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein, Jackson Pollock and Dan Flavin, and living legends Chuck Close, April Gornik, Elizabeth Peyton, and Eric Fischl.  As I type, I am mentally planning my summer visit.  Until then, a little tribute to my favorite artists of the East End:

April Gornik, Light Before Heat (1984)

Mel Kendrick, “jacks” at the Parrish Art Museum

Rob Lang ,Eastern Seaboard

Wolf Kahn, Against Orange

Mark Perry, Abstract (2010)

Barry Underwood, Parade Field

Image credits as linked