Dan's Papers -March 27, 2009 - Art Commentary - Alternate Spaces: Isham at Pierre's, Kennedy at Sylvester's

Restaurants and home furnishing shops have long served as venues for art, although we wouldn't describe them as fine art galleries. Even so, few are as "cool" and comfortable as Pierre's Restaurant in Bridgehampton and Sylvester & Co. in Amagansett. The visitor feels at home in both the surroundings and with the art, mainly because there's good work on the walls and quality ambience in the establishments themselves.

Sheila Isham's floral watercolors at Pierre's are perfect for the restaurant's theme of Spring. They are bouncy, lyrical and flowing. Such pieces also seem to match the interior décor: easy-going, peaceful, flowing. More subtle is the idea that Isham's flowers are uniquely sensuous, conveying a sense of sight as well as taste, texture, sound and smell.

These sensual qualities are a noteworthy aspect of the artist's entire oeuvre as they also contribute to Pierre's environment: the sublime scent of onion soup; the soothing sound of French ballads and customers speaking French; the starchy feel of crisp tablecloths.

Isham's talent and reputation go far beyond Pierre's, of course. Thus, her work has been shown around the world, including in a 2004 retrospective in St. Petersburg at the State Russian Museum and a 2005 exhibition at Washington's National Museum of Women in the Arts. Like her watercolors at Pierre's, her work has remained spirited, life-infusing and, naturally, sensual, although Isham's medium, style and subjects have varied - from acrylic abstractions of Haiti to mythic, cosmic paintings, collages on paper and oil pastels/monotypes featuring animals.

James Kennedy's pieces equally contribute to the environment at Sylvester & Co. Kennedy's abstract paintings stand out among the sofas, chairs and cabinets with their focus on texture (sand, wax, plaster and rice-paper) yet they complement the furniture's aesthetics (shape and texture) too.

While Kennedy's "landscapes" recall "deconstructed" nature at its spontaneous best, their compositions are often symmetrical and either horizontal or vertical in form, sometimes divided into quadrants. Yet they always somehow match the surrounding furniture. For example, there's "Quadraplane" alongside a Shandong cabinet that has a similar blue antique finish. The two objects allow us to see the painting in context and to realize it's not a separate entity.

This seemingly simple observation has significance regarding Kennedy's work. In a nutshell, his paintings connect to the world around them; everything is part of everything else.

Watercolors by Sheila Isham will be on view at Pierre's Restaurant until March 31. (Tel: 631-537-5110) Work by James Kennedy will be available for view at Sylvester & Co. until May 20. (Tel: 631-267-9777)