Dan's Papers - June 6, 2008 - Art Commentary With Marion Wolberg Weiss

Local scenes of Sag Harbor are not that unusual, but always welcomed. Especially those by British artist Paul Rafferty, whose current exhibit is at Sag Harbor's Grenning Gallery.

One unique aspect of Rafferty's paintings is the confluence ofevocations. In other words, while his settings are Sag Harbor, such images also recall other times and places - times like the turn-of-the-century, places like France and even England.

This is not to suggest that all of Rafferty's pieces feature Sag Harbor. There's one particularly arresting work, "Orange Umbrellas, Juan Les Pins", that's obviously set in France. Its close-up perspective distinguishes it from local beach scenes, reminding this critic somehow of Eric Fischl's "St. Tropez" series several years ago. The lack of facial definition is certainly one similarity shared by the two artists.

Rafferty's "long-shots" of places like "Sagg Main, Contre Jour" are complete with umbrellas and people who although we can see them on the beach, are still without features. This ambience creates an isolation effect in direct contradiction to the artist's warm colors and light. We feel comfortable looking at the environment, as we simultaneously feel removed from it. Such opposition is perhaps one of Rafferty's most interesting elements.

His paintings celebrating Sag Harbor's village life have a closer point-of-view, including two women walking down Main Street and three young girls looking into a shop window. Again, the faces are blurred in the first painting; the girls are turned away from us in the second piece. The contradictory effect is similar to the one in the beach scene: distraction and comfort combined.

This opposition works, even though it might be an intuitive and unconscious response by Rafferty. We can't help but look at the artist's beach and Main Street images in a nostalgic way, even though years may have passed since we experienced the places directly. We may feel both connected to such images and separated from them. Isn't this what happens when we get older, when we visit our old haunts where we grew up, knowing that things are never the same, wishing that they could be the same?

Is that what's meant by "You can't go home again?"

Paul Rafferty's exhibit will be on view at the Grenning Gallery until June 22. Call 631-725-8469.