In Light, Sand, and Sea: Hamptons Artists and Their Studios (Vendome Press), photographer Jaime Lopez and journalist and curator Coco Myers explore the workspaces of 50 artists living and working on the East End. Here are the stories of three of them.
APRIL GORNIK
“We came out here in 1985 and found an affordable house in Sag Harbor that could accommodate two studios with a little renovation. It was an old farmhouse and we loved it. Then, in the late nineties, Eric wanted to build a house and found property in North Haven. At first, I was reluctant because I’d started gardening and had literally packed our little property with flowering perennials and herbs. But I loved the idea of more space. Once we built our dream house, we realized that we didn’t want to go back to the city, period. I absolutely love living at the edge of somewhere—the bays, the inlets, the ocean—although I find the ocean inscrutable and frightening.”
April’s luminous landscapes are inspired by both the imagined and the real. Though her work is emotional and interiorized, there are recognizable places in the paintings. “I work from photos all the time, which I sometimes collage together—a piece of land from the North Fork and a sky from Rome. I used to think I had to make up everything or it wouldn’t count, wouldn’t really be creative. Now my computer is my favorite sketch tool.” In all her paintings, Gornik incorporates light. “As a dealer once said, light is the protagonist in my work. And there are so many spots of bliss out here that I find transporting, like the marshes near the sea. Any kind of double-reflective situation like that feels transcendent to me. And I love to paint the ocean and its amazing fractal chaos. I love still and I love chaotic.”
“Painting is such an immensely complicated thing to do. Between inspiration, preparation, adjustments that happen in sketching it out on a big canvas, starting to feel the weight and balance of the piece while underpainting it, then building it up in layers, and working with the tiny but important dimensionality of the surface. All that involves imagination, memory, a battle with intent, and a truce with what the painting seems to want to become. And then there’s the joke that the universe usually makes when you get near completion of a painting and realize that the part you felt proudest of is now the part that has to go.”
QUENTIN CURRY
Born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Curry spent his formative years in the Appalachian Mountains. “This instilled in me a love for the wild and a fascination with the counterculture movements of the eighties. After a turbulent time in school, I found solace and inspiration in skateboarding, snowboarding, and the emerging punk music scene. These experiences laid the groundwork for my future artistic endeavors, providing a backdrop of rebellion and personal expression that continues to inform my work to this day.”
“I moved to the Hamptons in 2009, seeking an escape from the urban hustle and financial uncertainties of New York City, and turned my attention to eastern Long Island. Eventually, I stumbled upon a unique place in Sagaponack. The property, with a house and studio, was previously owned by David Porter. It felt like something you’d find in Vermont, though it was just one mile from the ocean. I was struck by the sense of wildness and seclusion it offered. I finally convinced the owners to sell me the property and embarked on a years-long renovation. The environment here has allowed me to reconnect with the natural world. Whether I’m surfing or painting or walking or sculpting or riding, it all is reflected in the works I make.”
Curry trained at Bard College and the San Francisco Art Institute. “I’ve always toggled between abstraction and figuration and the small thoughts in between. My early works, created with stone dust and oil paint, and characterized by textured, semi-abstract landscapes, laid the foundation for my later exploration of more freehand and primal approaches to painting.” His surf paintings, with their bold colors and expressive brushwork, evoke the sensation of riding the waves with paint. Curry’s sculptures offer a tactile exploration of materiality. “By repurposing man-made building materials into rock-like structures, I blur the line between natural and artificial, ancient and modern.”
IDOLINE DUKE
“I grew up out here as a summer kid, spending entire, idyllic days by the ocean, biking to Main Beach for saltwater taffy, and painting rocks and shells on rainy days. I come from a family of artists, so any creative pursuit was always encouraged. I studied art history and art in college and went on to study landscape design in London, with the idea of starting my own garden-design company in East Hampton. After ten years running the business, the stress and ticks finally got to me, so a move to Vermont and a turn back to visual art seemed the obvious next step.” In 2018, she and her family returned and settled in Springs.
“The art community here feels incredibly vibrant and supportive. I’m so lucky that I’ve fallen in with this eclectic, curious, ambitious, talented, kooky bunch that brings so much energy and creative spirit to my life. My studio faces Accabonac Harbor, which has been an inspiration for so many artists before me.” Duke often paints large-scale watercolors, which require her to work on a horizontal surface. She lays oversize paper on a Ping-Pong table. “Getting it to lie flat is like wrestling an alligator.”
Duke’s main medium is watercolor. “It makes sense since I’m in love with the water and have always spent time in or near it—surfing, swimming, oystering, walking, or just staring. But I’m also forever playing with whatever natural or found material I get my hands on—charred driftwood, old shingles, rocks, clay, odd stuff from random dumpsters. I love creating objects that defy their common perceptions: wood painted to look like rock, feathers wrapped in barbed wire, limpet shells stacked and gracefully curled. This endless play keeps me connected to nature and is a great counterpoint to my two-dimensional watercolor and ink paintings.”