The Grenning Gallery is pleased to announce the second annual Solo Show for Darius Yektai, opening June 5th, at 26 Main Street, and on view through Father’s Day, June 20th
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Darius Yektai (b. 1973) Southampton, New York) is an East End of Long Island painter with aboriginal roots in the Abstract Expressionist movement out here. Although at first glance, Yektai may seem like an outlier at the Grenning Gallery, he is exactly what we’ve been looking for: a bridge between our classically trained artists to the realm of dignified contemporary abstraction. 
——————
Interestingly, Yektai has a degree in Art History, not painting. Unfettered by the constraints that years of traditional training may do to yoke an artist’s expression, Yektai is free to explore his subject matter and experiment with his materials. Every series is its own investigation and Yektai has demonstrated that he is both sincere in his inquiry and also unafraid of failure. His passion to understand great artworks from the past and integrate them into a contemporary visual language has landed Yektai on a curious and brave path which has, luckily, intersected with the Grenning Gallery. 
——————
Ignited by Yektai’s own painting “Water Lilies: After Monet” 2013 -2018, this show demonstrates an artist in his prime, diving deep into a subject matter, and painting a rich and broad series.  In the Persian Lilies group, we see an exciting coagulation of his many influences. Yektai’s personal heritage (his father was a Persian painter and poet) is mixing it up with his exposure to art history and the result is a painting with jewel like colors woven together, recalling the spirit of a magical carpet. The boldness of the color is matched by the supersized scale, as this sealed diptych reaches 10 feet up the wall.  In order to see it in person, one will have to make an appointment to visit his studio here in Sag Harbor, which can be done by calling the Grenning Gallery at 631-725-8469.
——————
Light Lilies
55 x 77 inches, Oil, acrylic and resin on linen, 2020
SOLD
Teal Lilies
77 x 55 inches,
Oil, acrylic, and resin on linen, 2020
Night Lilies
77 x 55 inches,
Oil, acrylic, and resin on linen, 2020
Magenta Lilies
77 x 55 inches,
Oil, acrylic, and resin on linen, 2020
SOLD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In a nod to the contemporary monochrome, Yektai created a sublime series of single-color water lily paintings.  Here all  distractions are stripped away, so the viewer can focus on each elemental brushstroke and the watery effect rendered by the resin. Each one, stands alone as an homage to the purity of color expressing an emotion, and together, they create a symphonic effect.
————————
Woven Lilies (Over and Under)
62 x 132 inches, Oil, acrylic and resin on linen, 2021
————
Another intriguing branch of paintings in this series are “Waterlilies” and “Woven Lilies”, and “Wind Blown Lilies” . These are the marquis examples of Yektai’s water lily paintings on raw natural linen. This group highlights Yektai‘s sensitivity to the materials that he is working with. By experimenting with resin over natural linen, a new rich brown color emerged, thereby creating the perfect juxtaposition for the deep greens, yellows, and blues that he abstracted from his trips to the local ponds.
——————————-
Waterlilies
61 x 77 inches,
Oil, acrylic, and resin on linen, 2020
Wind Blown Lilies
61 x 69 inches,
Oil, acrylic, and resin on linen, 2021
SOLD
Finally, Yektai didn’t limit his experimentation to materials and color….he has also pushed the envelope with his shapes.  In this series, we have several super-sized round paintings (61 inches in diameter) with  “Yellow Pond” and “Nymphaea Ordorata”.  He also created a custom canvas  “Willow Pond” which is 61 x 96 inches , with one of the vertical sides shortened, which allows it to fit snuggly along the roofline of the cathedral ceiling in his living room.
———————–
Nymphaea Ordorata
61-inch diameter, oil, acrylic and resin on canvas, 2020
————————————
“I always thought of late Monet as the precursor to Jackson Pollock’s all-overs. Pollock comes from that. His surface is the surface, he’s not painting the surface of a pond, he’s painting the surface of the painting. I was thinking about how to incorporate Monet into this new language that Pollock had given us, which was ‘paint for paint’s sake”
– Darius Yektai
Deer Drink
12 x 24 inches, Oil and resin on linen, 2020
Little Round Pond
24-inch diameter,
Oil, acrylic, and resin on linen, 2021
SOLD
———————————-
We hope to see you in the gallery!
_______________________________________