PARRISH ROAD SHOW PRESENTS

SCOTT BLUEDORN: BONAC BLIND

A FLOATING DWELLING MOORED IN SPRINGS

THAT ADDRESSES THE REGION’S AFFORDABLE HOUSING SHORTAGE

AND ERODING LOCAL TRADITIONS

OCTOBER 17 – 23, 2020

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Bluedorn will discuss his work in a live-stream talk on Friday, October 16;

Guests can meet the artist and view the project in Springs, Saturday, October 17

Sketch of the Bonac Blind by Scott Bluedorn. Image courtesy of the artist

East Hampton-based artist Scott Bluedorn (American, b. 1986) will present the installation Bonac Blind, a floating dwelling created with handmade or found materials that will be moored off Landing Lane, Springs, East Hampton, October 17–23, 2020. The structure, an interpretation of duck blinds used for camouflage by local hunters, addresses the affordable housing crisis and the gradual disappearance of Bonac culture on the East End. The Bonac Blind is presented as part of the 2020 Parrish Road Show, the Museum’s creative off-site exhibition series that connects art to life in the region by featuringtemporary projects by East End artists.

The artist will give a talk (at the Parrish and live-streamed) with exhibition organizer Corinne Erni, Senior Curator of ArtsReach and Special Projects, on Friday, October 16, at 5 pm. The public can meet the artist and explore the Bonac Blind on Saturday, October 17, from 12–2 pm and 3–5 pm. (Reservations are mandatory for the off-site visit; masks and social distancing are required). Additional visits aboard the Bonac Blind at its location in Springs from October 18 – 23 can be arranged by appointment only through the artist scottbluedorn@gmail.com.

“The Bonac Blind is a sign of hope, a creative response by an artist to a very specific local problem: affordable housing which affects so many communities here, including artists,” said Corinne Erni, Senior Curator of ArtsReach and Special Projects who organized the exhibition. “I am particularly thrilled to showcase the project during these enormously challenging times when many art projects and exhibitions are canceled.”

According to Bluedorn, who participated in the Museum’s 2019 Artists Choose Artists exhibition, “The Bonac Blind is a multi-faceted art intervention: A floating, off-grid microhome that references traditional Bonac culture of fishing, farming and hunting while also serving as a comment on the erosion of this culture due to the compound problems of housing crisis, climate change, and modernity.”

Constructed from a repurposed, plywood duck blind and covered in native reed, the Bonac Blind features industrial barrels, resin windows, and a geodesic dome.According to the artist, the name is a double entendre, obviously referring to duck blind used during waterfowl season. But the title also points to the area’s current population, largely blind to Bonac culture and the many problems it faces. Bluedorn’s intention is to raise awareness to the drastic shortage of affordable housing in the Hamptons that has effected a mass exodus of working-class people, particularly in the generations of East Hampton families known as Bonackers or Bubs, who farmed, fished, and hunted for their livelihood or as tradition. This population is increasingly leaving the area for more affordable regions, taking with them character, history, culture, and tradition.

An intentionally ironic solution to housing, the Bonac Blind proposes that a camouflage shed can be remade into a tiny and affordable floating house, complete with off-grid amenities such as solar panels, solar batteries, a simple bed, plumbing, and a hot plate. While alluding to traditional Bonac culture of hunting and austere living in the natural environment, the Bonac Blind will be fully functional and decorated with original artwork. The project also references the current trend of tiny homes that are sustainable, resilient, and adaptive—as well as the desire to separate oneself (physically and hermetically) from the “wealthy elite” culture of the Hamptons.

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About Scott Bluedorn

Artist, illustrator, and designer Scott Bluedorn (b. 1986) works in various media, including painting, drawing, print process, collage and found object assemblage. Drawing inspiration from cultural anthropology, primitivism, and nautical tradition, Bluedorn distills imagery that speaks to the collective unconscious, especially through myth and visual story-telling—a world he conjures as “maritime cosmology.” Bluedorn received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York. His work is on view at The Edward Albee Foundation in New York City, and is included in numerous private collections in the U.S., Canada, Ireland, France, and Portugal.

Solo and two-person exhibitions in the Hamptons include: Subanimalia, Greenport Harbor Brewing Company, (2018); Current Archive, Stick and Stone, Amagansett (2018); Scott Bluedorn, ArtUnprimed Space, East Hampton (2017); Scott Bluedorn and Paton Miller, 4 North Main Street Gallery, Southampton (2017); Maritime Cosmology, Jackson Carriage House, Amagansett, (2015); and Theo Blue: Flotssemblage, Montauk Beach House, (2014). He has been part of group exhibition including Artists Choose Artists, Parrish Art Museum (2019); 51^st and 52^nd Annual Artists of the Springs Invitational, Ashawagh Hall (2018 and 2019); In the Cloud, Kathryn Markel, Bridgehampton (2019); Sea and Sky, Sag Harbor Whaling & Historical Museum (2018); and Untitled Projects, Crush Curatorial, Amagansett, (2018).

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RELATED PROGRAMS

ILLUSTRATED TALK: Scott Bluedorn and Corinne Erni

Friday, October 16, 5 pm

Parrish Art Museum Lichtenstein Theater and streamed online

Seating in the theater is limited with socially distanced seating. Registration is required.

$20 | $10 Parrish Members

Free for Students and Children

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MEET THE ARTIST & EXPLORE THE BONAC BLIND

Saturday, October 17, 12-2 pm and 3-5 pm (Rain Date: Sunday, October 18)

Free and Open to the Public

Landing Lane, Springs, East Hampton

RSVP is required, space is limited. Guests must select a time slot.

Masks and social distancing will be required.

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Parrish Road Show: Scott Bluedorn—Bonac Barge is made possible, in part, by the generous support of Sandy and Stephen Perlbinder, and Jane Wesman and Donald Savelson. Public funding provided by Suffolk County.

The Museum’s exhibitions and programs are made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and the property taxpayers from the Southampton Union Free School District and the Tuckahoe Common School District.

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Parrish Road Show

Now in its ninth year, the Parrish Road Show is the Museum’s annual creative off-site cultural engagement program. Every year, East End artists are invited to create new work for temporary projects and engage residents in their process. In an effort to deeply connect art and creativity to everyday life, the exhibitions take place at public sites across the region—cultural and historical organizations, public parks and highways, and community centers—and the artists offer public talks and artmaking workshops for children and adults.

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Parrish Art Museum

Inspired by the natural setting and artistic life of Long Island’s East End, the Parrish Art Museum illuminates the creative process and how art and artists transform our experiences and understanding of the world and how we live in it. The Museum fosters connections among individuals, art, and artists through care and interpretation of the collection, presentation of exhibitions, publications, educational initiatives, programs, and artists-in residence. The Parrish is a center for cultural engagement, an inspiration and destination for the region, the nation, and the world.

www.parrishart.org

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AAQ / Resource: Joseph Pagac, Architect

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