Most of us are familiar with the biblical story of Noah’s Ark, where God spares a man (Noah), his family and one pair of every animal species in the world from a global deluge. Well, this weekend at The Church (48 Madison St., 631-919-5342) in Sag Harbor, there’s a new exhibition opening for the summer season that brings to mind the same central themes of that well known tale. Sort of…
“The Ark,” an exhibition curated by The Church’s co-founder, Sag Harbor resident and artist Eric Fischl, is composed solely of animal sculptures made by over 40 of some of the world’s most renowned artists of the last century. Situated inside the arts organization, throughout the outdoor garden grounds and, for the first time ever, on The Church’s outdoor deck, adjacent to the mezzanine level, the exhibition features works which “look closely at man’s relationship with animals, nature and self,” according to a press release from the locale, and “refers directly to the myth of the Deluge: an event of such apocalyptic scale, forewarned, unheeded and unstoppable that it appeared it would be the end of all life on earth. However, through human resourcefulness, will, and compassion, the Great Flood marked a new beginning, a do-over… a rebirth.”
(Photos courtesy of The Church)
And while the story of Noah’s Ark is such a notable, widely established one, as it’s found in the book of Genesis (which was written sometime between 1410 to 1450 BC), the inception for “The Ark,” funny enough, came to Fischl a couple of years ago while looking at a Pinterest feed that came in his morning email.
“The thing about me is that everything I do is organic,” he says with a chuckle. After viewing a picture of “a very beautiful hand sculpted bronze cat, almost like a civet or something,” Fischl says, “it was so beautiful that I clicked on it to look at it more and find out who the artist was.”
That led him to enter a world of sculptors who only do animals, a subject Fischl thought rarely overlapped with the fine-art art world. “I started to wonder if contemporary artists made animals,” he says, “and when I began to look into that, it turned out everyone does.”
Coincidentally (or maybe it was in fact kismet, if you think about), the title for the exhibition came about while Fischl was working with his executive director, Sheri Pasquarella, and exhibition coordinator Joe Jagos, to figure out the logistics of the exhibition, specifically getting all the animal works into the building.
“Joe said, why don’t you just call it the ark?,” Fischl says. “I was like, ‘But, of course. That’s what it is, right?'”
While animals remain the focal point for his exhibition, Fischl reminds “The Ark” is actually a study of humanity.
“I think it’s easier for us to, rather than be direct with each other emotionally in terms of our vulnerabilities or our needs or our desires or our fears, it’s easier to go through something, this otherness. And everybody has relationship to animals, and it’s through that, and through coming into the awareness of how the artist on the other side of that experience is forming it for you so that the relationship between you and the animal is very specific. They’re guiding you into a set of feelings and guiding you into a sense of creative wonder and beauty.”
Additionally, and very much in tune with a thematic element of connection and the resourcefulness of working together, as well as The Church’s commitment to fostering creativity on the East End and celebrating Sag Harbor’s living legacy, “The Ark” will also include a collaboration with The Sag Harbor Whaling & Historical Museum (located just down the block, at 200 Main St.,) of a community-wide art project to decorate and enliven a large wooden ark, to be displayed on the front lawn of the Whaling Museum concurrently through the summer. The project will unite people of all ages through art, allowing people to creatively add to the ark with paint, sculpture and other fun projects.
“The Ark” exhibition begins at The Church on Sunday, June 22, with an opening reception set for the day before, Saturday, June 21, beginning at 6 p.m.
