FEATURED ARTISTS

Darius Yektai Solo Show.

Summer 2024 Events

This summer, Grenning Gallery has a fun season of events planned!

We are hosting studio visits to our local artists, a painting workshop, a short-film screening, and of course, our opening receptions!

Please note that our Opening Receptions will be held on THURSDAYS this Summer!

Opening Reception: Hunt Slonem Thursday, July 11th, 6:00-7:30 PMGrenning Gallery, 26 Main St, Sag HarborHunt Slonem’s first Solo Exhibition at the Grenning Gallery.Cocktails and Painting Preview: Melissa Franklin SanchezThursday, July 18th, 5:30-7:30 PMGrenning Gallery, 26 Main St, Sag HarborMelissa Franklin Sanchez is in the Harbor and has new work to unveil before her exhibition this October!Studio Visit: Edwina and Maryann LucasSaturday, July 20th, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PMLucas Studio (RSVP info@grenninggallery.com for address)Join us for coffee at the studio of local painters Edwina and Maryann Lucas.Studio Visit: Nick WeberThursday, July 25th, 6-8 PMWeber Studio, East Hampton (RSVP info@grenninggallery.comfor address)Join us for refreshments and music at the studio of local painter Nick Weber.Opening Reception: Darius YektaiThursday, August 8th, 6:30-8:00 PMGrenning Gallery, 26 Main St, Sag HarborThe 5th annual Solo Exhibition for local expressionist painter Darius Yektai.Opening Reception: Ben Fenske Thursday, August 29th, 6:00-7:30 PMGrenning Gallery, 26 Main St, Sag HarborThe 17th annual Solo Exhibition for 21s t-Century impressionist Ben Fenske.

The Grenning Gallery is pleased to present our first exhibition of Summer 2024: Siren Song—featuring work from a group of painters, both local and international, who are enchanted by the wondrous and powerful sea: Daniela Astone, Terry Elkins, Edward Minoff, and Michael Kotasek. This exhibit will hang through Sunday, July 7th. Please join us for an Opening Reception on Saturday, June 15th, from 6-7:30 PM.

The irresistible music of the Sirens—the hybrid women creatures from Homer’s Odyssey who lure male sailors to their death, and subject of Margaret Atwood’s 1974 poem “Siren Song”—is the inspiration for this exhibition. The sea has endless allure. Engaging all senses, the sea soothes the soul – a refreshing and healing natural resource.

The “Hamptons” has its own allure, like that of the Sirens. Every weekend hundreds of people flee the city and trek 100 miles east to be near our seas. The Hamptons offers the relief of fresh air, conserved land, and boundless water.

The anchor artist for this exhibition, Daniela Astone presents surrealistic compositions of figures floating in water—or enveloped in a fog-like beast (The Kiss)— mixing a foreboding eeriness with enchantment, while Michael Kotasek’s painting conveys the relationship between man’s curious search for knowledge and the perpetual possibilities beyond the earth. Terry Elkins and Edward Minoff, remind us of the seductive beauty that the East End promises. These paintings invite you into a mysterious world of pure splendor, without the consequences of following Homer’s Sirens.

After years of intense studio work, painting only from life, Daniela Astone (b. 1980 | Pisa, Italy), now finds inspiration from her dreams. The Kiss is a standout tour de force. Of course, it recalls Gustav Klimt's famous 1908 painting of the same name but instead of an ornately fashioned couple on a gilded background, Astone unveils a mysterious creature enveloping and suspending a pure and striking nude figure in mid-air atop a natural canvas. The shadow figure appears ominous until you notice the nude figure leaning into her partner, her hands lightly caressing, and leaning on the amorphous creature. Her body is relaxed, and her eyes closed; she is safe in it’s embrace. As a classical artist who paints the nude figure every day, Astone is masterful at depicting women at ease in their natural bodies rather than women self-conscious of their nudity—posing but fearful of exploitation at the same time—a theme in art history that continues today.

This juxtaposition of a real human form amidst a nebulous entity is exquisitely executed. Extreme, deep black takes over from the top right of the canvas. Yet, it is obscure where it’s form ends – the way a cloud will dissipate, unstructured edges fall away. Note where the nude’s calf becomes softly swathed in dark matter in sweeping strokes of black paint, alluding to Japanese ink paintings. This pitch-black presence dilutes to grey along the left. Furthermore, droplets of it’s form rain down into the ether, where the artist has delicately signed her name.

Astone, being Italian, often meditates on her peninsula’s heritage and it’s role in contemporary life. The myths of her ancestors consistently loom over everyday life. It was these treasured tales which helped civilization form and cope with the common struggles and mysteries of life. In Deep Down, Astone conjures figures floating down, en-masse, towards a fictional lost bronze Roman artifact. The figure in the foreground leans-in to whisper something in the ear of the broken off head—further connecting the now and the then. What story she is telling the ancient sculpture, is up to the viewer. Once again, Astone skews her realist execution by leaving brushstrokes undone along the lower left, reminding the viewer of her hand in the composition.

For Dancing Love, Astone brought professional dancers into her studio and let them improvise as she painted them. She decided to paint this particular position the dancers held for only a moment in a larger canvas because she loved the way the male and female dancers' bodies intertwined in not a typical freeze-frame grande jete or lift. She placed the dancers in deep water in her canvas as part of the larger surrealistic series of figures floating through ethereal space. Les Deux Moités or The Two Halves, continues this theme. A man and a woman, fitting perfectly together with ease, share a tender embrace. Their bodies float above the sea floor and glow against the dark blue background.

me and you walking on the brick pathis a painting of a dream Astone had one night; of her and her daughter walking together on the sea. Visions of the yellow brick road come to mind as well in this (literal) triangle composition. Travelers on the brick path look for answers, for home, for inspiration.

After growing up in the American South and receiving his BFA from Sam Houston State University, and an MFA from the University of Houston in Texas, Terry Elkins (b. 1951 | Mississippi) was drawn to the East Coast to forage his career as a painter. When Elkins first came to the South Fork of Long Island in the late 1980’s, the culture was slow-paced, humble, and centered around an economy of independent fisherman. Every day, Elkins would witness Baymen set out to sea in their dories to cast nets offshore to earn a living from their catch. Decades later, that lifestyle has sadly dissolved due to huge offshore fishing fleets, and the crunch of 21st Century conventions. Nonetheless, Elkins paintings are devoted to this humble vision of the Hamptons; where a dory can lay along the beach unlocked without fear of tampering or theft; and the serene beauty of the local landscape is more than sufficient to satisfy one’s way of life.

After nearly 4 decades of living on the East End, Elkins avows that “there are many beautiful places here, and I will honestly say I’ve discovered most of them.” Wainscott Pond, Late Summer is an interpretation of what Elkins says is “one of the last and most panoramic vistas on the East End. It’s close to where I live, and sometimes, I feel like painting is just an excuse to be there.” Barcelona Point is another one of those secret spots. Secluded and hard to get to if you don’t know the way, but he promises it’s well worth the excursion. Unspoiled lands, fortunately protected by conservation easements, native ecosystems are allowed to thrive unhindered by human contamination and development.

Edward Minoff b. 1972 | New York, NY)returns to the gallery delivering expert realism from his arduously trained hand, with a new series of seascapes. Growing up in NYC, Minoff spent his summers on Long Island Beaches, soaking up the sun and sand while he could. It’s no wonder that the sea has become his main inspiration in painting. This new series, however, focuses on the ocean’s mightiness. In Emeralds, grey skies hovering above rich green waves dictate a stormy temperament; the crash of the waves make impact with fortitude. A current so strong, the seafoam sees no moments of relief to dissipate to clarity. Thin films of water reach toward the viewer along silvery sands, appearing so delicate, so inviting. Yet beyond is a commanding tide that only the strongest swimmer could match.

Finally, we are lucky to receive a new painting from Michael Kotasek (b. 1962 | Upstate NY). A gigantic full-moon radiates against a deep blue night sky. A sandy hill in the foreground houses one single structure, an observatory: a man-made edifice used to observe terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. The title of the painting, “Hello?” empashises this curiousity of man. Kotasek positioned these subjects in an exaggerated way; it’s as if one could run up to the roof of the building and reach out and touch the moon. Kotasek has the unique ability to bring us to a place that is almost familiar but has no name, a sort of no-man’s land—a world of his own creation that we as viewers are enticed to decipher and discover.

The Grenning Gallery is pleased to unveil CARMODY | PERSSON a two person show celebrating the textural palette knife paintings from Australia’s own Emily Persson; juxtaposed with Kelly Carmody’s new series of glowing bayscapes inspired by Shelter Island’s quiet season. This exhibit will hang from Saturday, May 11th through Sunday, June 9th, 2024. Please join us for an Opening Reception on Saturday, May 11th from 5:30pm-7:00pm, both artists will be present.

In October of 2023, Kelly Carmody (b. 1977, Massachusetts) jumped on a rare opportunity to spend a month on Shelter Island, entirely solo. The busy season had just ended, and all the summer visitors had departed. Carmody found herself on the pristine beaches alone, with only the still waters and crisp autumn air to accompany her. It’s a breathtaking revelation, when one is finally able to absorb all the beauty this small island between the North and South Forks has to offer. Silence; save for the wind, the birds, squirrels, and deer crunching on newly fallen leaves in the forest. This time of pensive reflection and solitude inspired Carmody to paint her surroundings, with as much purity as she could possibly convey onto the canvas. Carmody even concocted her own traditional gesso, made of marble dust, pigment, and rabbit glue for this new series. Unlike a pre-primed canvas, this new surface produced an absorbent ground, which generated a smoothing effect as the paint was layered on to the canvas. The result is a rich colorist yet, almost transparent quality to the painting.

The composition for Pink Reflection began with a plein-air pastel drawing, with Carmody sitting on the bridge at Dering Harbor. In the pastel, we see a colorful sky with clouds scattering just after sunset. The horizon is intersected by masts from an assortment of sailboats. In the foreground, water runs out from beneath the bridge she sits upon, flowing into the harbor, the current accentuated by a simplistic design of little V shapes. When Carmody translated this plein air sketch onto a canvas, she made decisions to omit a lot of what she saw on site. She emphasized the stillness of the harbor, where the pink sky casts a bright reflection onto the water’s surface. The sailboats intersecting the horizon were entirely omitted, heightening a sensation of peaceful contemplation. The movement in the foreground is only annotated by her echoing the pattern of arrows pointing us toward the direction of the water’s current. What started as a plein air pastel, sparked by an interesting light effect, resulted in a studio painting that emanates light itself.

Throughout the rest of the series, light is the prominent subject. The changing of seasons meant that Carmody was able to experience a different atmosphere, and subsequently light effect, each day. The milky blue of Shelter Island Evening and the warm orange of Orange Clouds are the same location at different times of day. Carmody’s paintings demonstrate how, in a matter of minutes, light can completely transform a scene.

In Spring Still Life, Carmody emphasizes the light being the painting by showing no shadows. By getting rid of the shadows that should be there, Carmody individualizes each object, and celebrates the simplicity of color and shapes in a flat plane.

Emily Persson (b.1991, Australia) returns to the Grenning Gallery with an enchanting body of textural scenes from her home in Melbourne, Australia. Persson joined the Grenning Gallery roster in 2019, with a few paintings in our “Thick and Wet” exhibition from 2019. We sold out of her work, and she has spent the last four years painting for solo shows at galleries in Australia; Wentworth Galleries of Sydney, The Moree Gallery of New South Wales, and Manyung Gallery of Victoria. We are thrilled to finally have new work from Persson, who is a multi-generational painter with roots in Brisbane, and we are beyond excited that Persson will be travelling all the way from Australia to join us for the opening reception!

Persson works primarily with a palette knife, in fact, the same knife her grandmother painted with. This tool aids in creating the long depth of field we see in her landscapes—with objects in the foreground physically popping off the canvas and features in background melting away with one swipe. Unlike Carmody’s exploration of distilling canvases into light effects, Persson magnifies the various textures that the world offers.

In Tree Line Sublime, the largest work by Persson we’ve shown in the gallery so far, the painted bark not only visually represents the look of the bark, but physically represents its rough and varied texture as well.

Persson’s clouds are ones you want to reach out and touch due to her work with the palette knife, smoothing the white paint like icing on a cake. “It Was Nice” is a glorious frenzy of clouds—the sky takes over three quarters of the composition. Abundant white paint slathered onto the canvas meet shadows of grey and blue in a spectacular maze of billowing vapors. Beneath is a patchwork quilt of green paints demonstrating the lush, verdant hills of her homeland.

Although both Carmody and Persson paint the natural world surrounding them, their different inspirations, methods of painting, and styles highlight their individuality as artists—resulting in a dynamic exhibition we are delighted to present to the public on May 11th!

Announcing our Exhibition Calendar for the Year

January 13 - March 16: GREENHOUSE Group ShowMarch 17 - March 31: CLOSED for Cleaning/paintingApril 6 - May 5: MARC DALESSIO & NICK WEBERMay 11 - June 9: KELLY CARMODY & EMILY PERSSONJune 15 - July 7: GROUP SHOW Daniela Astone, Terry Elkins, Edward Minoff, & Michael KotasekJuly 11 - August 4: HUNT SLONEM Solo Show (Thursday Opening)August 8 - August 25: DARIUS YEKTAI Solo Show (Thursday Opening)August 29 - September 22: BEN FENSKE Solo Show (Thursday Opening)September 28 - October 20: GROUP SHOW Sarah Lamb Anthony Mastromatteo, Carl Bretzke, & Viktor ButkoOctober 26 - November 17: GROUP SHOW Steven Levin, Mathias Meinel, Melissa Franklin SanchezNovember 23 - January 12th, 2025: GEMS Annual Holiday Exhibition

Images: Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn at Estremoz Castle, by Marc Dalessio, 2023, 4 paintings Available