By Rob Katz
The Greenwich Art Society (GAS) opened its annual Members Juried Exhibition on June 29, presenting a mixed-media collection culled from the Society’s membership throughout the tri-state area and beyond.
The showcase, “Peripheral Vision,” will be shown in the Greenwich Library’s Flinn Gallery until July 19.
Traditionally, the Flinn Gallery is rented by the GAS for a month over the summer for one of the Society’s two annual shows—the other being held at the Bendheim Gallery in the Senior/Arts Center. All members are welcome to submit up to two pieces to be judged by a guest juror, and all work is for sale, with the Society retaining a 30-percent commission on sales.
Cos Cob resident Margaret Phillips and one of GAS’s vice presidents, Mayann Weinberg, co-chaired the exhibit.
The theme for the show, “Peripheral Vision,” was chosen to be open-ended, so that contributing artists would not feel constricted by it, according to Weinberg, who has chaired the GAS’s Flinn Gallery exhibitions for nearly ten years.
“We try not to tie it down,” Weinberg said. “We want people to look at their work, and whether it’s … a place in Europe, and its ruins [or] something that’s very abstract, it can all be suitable. That’s our goal as show-chairs, to have a theme that is really loosely interpreted so that everybody can take part,”
The juror this year was Tamar Margalit, an assistant curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. According to the Society’s website, Margalit has previously curated at the Luxembourg & Dayan Gallery in New York City.
According to Phillips, Margalit was “interactive” with the pieces and the co-chairs.
“She wanted to see things moved, she wanted to see things together,” Phillips said. “I think that she didn’t come with preconceived notions; she really worked with what she had. She was really open to what was here.”
Margalit told the Sentinel that she was “very impressed with the high quality of work in the show.”
Jurors typically come from a museum in New York, such as the MoMA, often through GAS President Anna Patalano’s connections in the art world.
“I think it’s one of the reasons why people put high quality stuff in here,” Phillips said. “Anna always gets a really prestigious juror.”
Weinberg believed that the presence of an outsider’s perspective has also encouraged a more egalitarian judging process.
“Not that our local talent isn’t amazing, but we’re not getting a local art teacher who can go around the room and … recognize people’s styles and colors and work,” Weinberg said. “When the juror comes in, they are totally unaware of whose work is whose. That’s kind of part of it. It’s anonymous, and they’re looking at the work and they’re putting a show together.”
At the opening reception, cash awards totaling $2,000 were given to several of the artists accepted into the exhibition. Among them was an award in the name of Bessemer Trust, a sponsor of the Flinn Show. The other award donors were the Frances K. Brooks Estate, the Irene Buynoski Estate, the Dagny A. Hultgreen Estate, the Rudin Foundation and Peter Pellerzi.
The award winners were Sarah Boyle, for “Shall I Stay or Shall I Go?”; Robert Carley, for an untitled piece; Ellen Gordon, for “Dandy Duo”; Angela Liptack, for “Blue House”; Rachel Ong, for “Catching Rays”; Marion Schneider, for “Guggenheim Entryway”; and Marina Shrady, for “August.”
Carley, who had submitted a photo of the star-spangled banner, which was rejected, along with his winning abstract piece, noted the unpredictability of any art juror’s tastes and of what pieces will be accepted in a show.
“You never know with the judges,” Carley said. “It’s not a science, it’s not a math… There’s something inside in their soul that tells them that this is good and that’s not good enough. That’s art.”
Weinberg emphasized her appreciation for the overall quality of submissions to the Flinn show.
“We’re so lucky that people do come from far and wide [to submit their work],” Weinberg said. “We get a lot of really great stuff. There’s a lot of good talent out there and people enjoy sharing it.”
For artists and non-artists looking to contribute to the Greenwich Art Society, information on becoming a member is available on greenwichartsociety.org
