"Two Chairs (North Truro)," 2024 on view in New Canaan
"Two Chairs", is in a fundraising exhibition at The Glass House; "Race Point Chair (Helene)" is a new acquisition at Cape Cod Museum of Art.
I’ve been painting in North Truro on Cape Cod since 2005, staying there so regularly that the guy I rent from kindly let’s me store my painting gear and a collection of beach chairs in his attic. I take the chairs to the beach to photograph and draw each September when I’m on the Cape for my annual September exhibit and color class at Castle Hill. Sometimes I set up if it’s not too windy and paint on the lawn.
The plaid chair in the painting below belongs to an acquaintance who let’s me paint outside of her cottage on a stretch of private beach. I immediately was intrigued by the strong colors in her chair, but it took a while to realize that I was connecting it to Frank Stella, one of my early heros. At first, the painting was titled “Two Chairs (Frank)” and then I changed it to “Two Chairs (North Truro)” after reworking it.
Two Chairs is in the Summer Party group show at The Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut. The painting is part of a silent auction fundraiser and you can bid on it here at Artsy.
Here’s a photo of me with Frank Stella at the gala dinner for the opening of The Anderson Collection at Stanford in 2015. In the summer of 1989 just before moving to France, I was an opar for Frank’s boys, Patrick and Peter. I also worked for Earl Childress, helping assemble Earl’s paintings in a Chelsea basement at night after Earl had helped build Frank’s paintings during the day. It was remarkable to be seated next to Frank at Stanford after not seeing him for 25 years.
Also happening this week is the opening reception for “New Acquisitions” at the Cape Cod Museum of Art.
A docent will be giving a talk tonight, Thursday, June 5, about my painting, “Race Point Chair (Helene)”.
