April 30, 2021

Lonnie Holley: Tangled Up in De Kooning’s Fence at South Etna Montauk, May 1 – August 29, 2021

“On May 1st, the newly formed non-profit South Etna Montauk Foundation will launch its 2021 exhibition program with Lonnie Holley: Tangled Up in De Kooning’s Fence, an exhibition of new works created by the venerated Alabama-born artist during his recent residency at the Elaine de Kooning House in East Hampton. An astonishingly prolific polymath who is equally accomplished in sculpture, painting, experimental music, poetry, film, video, and performance, Holley used the winter 2020 residency on Long Island – a period of rare solitude for the peripatetic artist during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown – to experiment with and extend his visual language. By drawing inspiration for his breakthroughs from the unique atmosphere of the East End, Holley’s work suggests connections in the narrative of American art between the inventive ‘craft’ traditions of Southern African-American artmaking, and the breakthroughs of the 20th century modernists who lived and painted in the Hamptons.” — South Etna Montauk

Lonnie Holley, Removal of the Shadows, 2020. Enamel and mixed media on canvas; 58 x 103 in (147.3 x 261.6 cm). Courtesy the artist and South Etna Montauk Foundation.
Lonnie Holley, The River of Tears, 2020. Acrylic and mixed media on wood panel; 48 x 48 in (121.9 x 121.9 cm).
Lonnie Holley, She Wore Our Chains, 2020. Framed found photograph with spray paint and mixed media; 19 1/4 x 15 1/4 in (48.9 x 38.7 cm). Courtesy the artist and South Etna Montauk Foundation.
Lonnie Holley, Down in the Country Where the Old Things Remain, 2020. Acrylic and spray paint, quilted fabric stretch over wood panel; 48 x 48 in (121.9 x 121.9 cm). Courtesy the artist and South Etna Montauk Foundation.
Lonnie Holley, From Nothing to Everything, 2020. Acrylic and spray paint, quilted fabric stretch over wood panel; 48 x 48 in (121.9 x 121.9 cm). Courtesy the artist and South Etna Montauk Foundation.
Lonnie Holley, Without Skin, 2020. Acrylic and spray paint, quilted fabric stretch over wood panel; 48 x 48 in (121.9 x 121.9 cm). Courtesy the artist and South Etna Montauk Foundation.
Lonnie Holley, Reaching Towards the Power, 2020. Spray-paint and mixed media; 11 x 15 in (27.9 x 38.1 cm). Courtesy the artist and South Etna Montauk Foundation.
Lonnie Holley, She Was As Wild As Her Garden (Elaine), 2020. Spray-paint and mixed media; 22 x 30 in (55.9 x 76.2 cm). Courtesy the artist and South Etna Montauk Foundation.
Lonnie Holley, The Children of the Plantation (Me, Mary, and Jennie), 2020. Spray-paint and mixed media; 22 1/2 x 30 1/2 in (57.1 x 77.5 cm). Courtesy the artist and South Etna Montauk Foundation.
Portrait of Lonnie Holley in East Hampton. Photo: Katherine McMahon. Courtesy the artist and South Etna Montauk Foundation.

Lonnie Holley: Tangled Up in De Kooning’s Fence is curated by Alison M. Gingeras.

The exhibition coincides with Everything That Wasn’t White, Holley’s solo exhibition at the Parrish Art Museum in Watermill, April 24 – September 6, 2021. Both exhibitions feature a range of paintings, sculptures, and works on paper that Holley made over the course of his residency on the East End.