Summer in the Hamptons is known for its social scene, its beach scene and now for its burgeoning art scene. In the past 5 to 7 years, three huge art shows have established themselves in the Hamptons.
There's ArtHampton which began seven years ago in the sculpture field of Nova's Ark in Bridgehampton and is produced by the Hamptons Expo Group out of Southampton. This group also created ArtAspen, The Houston Fine Art Fair, and the Palm Springs Art Fair.
Then there's Art Market Hamptons, in its fourth year, created and produced by Art Market Productions of Brooklyn which also produces Art Market San Francisco, Texas Contemporary (Houston), and the Miami Project.
Lastly, three year old Art Southampton was established by Art Market LLC of Miami which also produces Art Miami, Aqua Art Miami, Art Wynwood (Miami), CONTEXT (Miami), Art Silicon Valley in San Francisco, and downtown fair in New York City.
The first two occur on the same weekend every year - last weekend - and for those of you who follow me on Facebook, you've heard a lot about the building of the Art Market Hamptons project in the potato field across from our house. The chic Hamptons, as they are known today, traditionally is a farming and fishing area on the east end of Long Island. We have no large malls, tall office buildings, or huge convention spaces, so if you want to sponsor a large art show you have to build your own gallery, which is exactly what they do.
Starr Tents built the one near us. They leveled the uneven ground by building out a floor structure upon which they raised a metal framework (with cranes) that eventually supported a canvas roof and walls, air-conditioners, glass doors and lighting for over 40 exhibitors. All this was built in 11 days and it took just 4 to take it all down. Here there was an outdoor cafe that served Lobster from the Red Hook Lobster Pound, Roberta's wood-oven pizza (oven imported from Brooklyn), and Van Leeuen Artisan Ice Cream, nothing but gourmet for this group.
In the gallery built for the 70 exhibitors from around the globe at Art Hampton, there was a cocktail bar and restaurant with a large seating area right in the middle of the tent! AND, on Sunday they even sponsored an exhibition Polo Match on the polo field next door! How Hamptons is that?
All of these shows exhibit modern and contemporary art from around the world, and we get to see it in our back yard! In fact, Art Market Hamptons gives us free VIP passes for their entire show as compensation for any inconvenience they cause in the neighborhood during this 2 to 3 week period. Opening night was very festive, the art was diverse and interesting and the music played by the jazz band was a nice contrast to the beeping of forklifts backing up all day.
This year Peter and I catalogued each day's progress in the creation of Art Market Hamptons gallery, from it's very beginning on June 30th to it's very end on July 17th, and he compiled a video of it all including the VIP party with live jazz. Here it is - a little slice of what it can be like in the summer in the Hamptons during the July art season.
Art in the Hamptons 2014
Video by Peter Tooker
Photos by Claudia Ward
I agree on the "Thong Nun" !..the shopping cart was a great centerpiece! Just terrific! Amazing tent system, a sort of win win- Art fans get a tent-farmer gets rent - and hopefully produce after the tent went. Great vid, good use of the scrapbook feature! Thanks Pete and Claudia for giving us a peek in there!
Posted by: Robert Beyer | Tuesday, July 22, 2014 at 11:50 AM
I hate to say it but my favorite was the "thong nun" -what was the title of that piece?
How did you photograph all of those people without complaint or did they think you were making a movie and they would be famous?
Posted by: ally | Monday, July 21, 2014 at 11:18 AM