Art That Moves Us — New Exhibition at The White Room Gallery, MOVEMENT

We often talk about movement when considering art’s emotional or intellectual impact: we are moved. The latest exhibit at Bridgehampton’s The White Room Gallery, Movement, is a timely reminder to stop and consider the—sometimes subtle, sometimes seismic—movement that surrounds us. 

In the words of the curators, Andrea McCafferty and Kat O’Neill, “movement is defined as a series of acts working toward a desired end.”  Movement measures the cycles and routines that define our lives. The sun moves across the sky each day to make room for the moon. Seasons change as our planet moves around the sun, each incremental inch impacting what we see, how we feel, and where we go. As the summer fades, so too do the motion and commotion of life in the Hamptons.

The presentation of movement in painting, photography, and sculpture highlights the artistic prowess on display in the exhibit. Even without the aid of moving images, the many evocative figures and abstract forms, individually and as a whole, are not static. Describing the thematic throughlines between the many pieces of curated work, “there are many acts in this exhibit.  All working toward their own desired end. The cumulative effect. Flow.”

Photography, seemingly still, captures a moment but does it steal its movement? Barbara Cole’s elegant and haunting photographs, Swing and Parade (from Duplicity Series Ed II ⅕), show motion and change over time in its physical subject matter and photographic methodology. I love the juxtaposition of movement created in Greg Lotus’ “WAGON WHEEL” (Photograph). Shadows from the spokes of wheels are cast against the female form, reminding me that wheels are metaphorical expressions of the body’s mobility.

Edward Lentsch’s The Contemplative One (mixed media), uses texture and unformed designs to illustrate the subtly chaos of change. Industrial connotations are created by rust-like patches and scars born from time and dripping paint, moved by gravity.

Consider the movement captured in a memory. Stuart Yankell’s romantic depiction of a café, Crystalization (acrylic and oil on acrylic panel), highlights how the movement of time changes our perception of the past. What is nostalgia if not a recognition of movement, simultaneous reminders of change all around us and the changes within us? We move on with our lives, but when we revisit our memories, we find something we miss or missed.

My thoughts have their own movement, my eyes move across a canvas, drinking images and information, I am brought out of or into myself. As the curators say, “[movement] is transformative whether it be in life or art.”

The opening reception for the exhibit is Saturday, September 10th from 5–7pm, and on display from September 7–October 2. Featuring art from: Craig Alan, Barbara Cole, Edward Lentsch, Stuart Yankell, Robert Georgio, Linda Zacks…and more.