Dan's Papers - August 8, 2008 - Revisiting Rivers

The artist Larry Rivers was a human magnet. He attracted all types - women, men, artists, writers and even square parents. Yet his larger-than-life personality hardly shadowed his prolific work. Rivers is responsible for creating the bridge between abstract expressionism and pop art. During the '50s and '60s, his work was a dynamic force in the New York art world. During that time many of Rivers' themes depicted history, family and friends, often in controversial settings or poses that were capable of inspiring awe, rage and at the very least, discomfort.

"Rivers was more than an artist, he was a musician, beatnik, videographer...so many things rolled into one. He didn't fit into the typical artist role...introverted, aloof, toned down...he was warm and accessible," said Bob Colacello, the former editor of Andy Warhol's Interview magazine. Colacello, who has been coming out to the Hamptons since he was a child, will be moderating "I Remember Larry," a panel discussion at Guild Hall on Sunday, August 10 at 11 a.m., with collector Barbara Goldsmith; author John Gruen; director of the Larry Rivers Foundation, David Joel; film director Lana Jokel; and artist Jane Wilson. The panel discussion comes in support of the exhibition, "Larry Rivers: Early Major Works," which opens with a reception on Saturday, August 9, from 5:30-7:30 p.m., and runs through October 19.

Colacello discussed his earliest days in the Hamptons. "We used to drive down Dunemere Lane, and the lilacs were absolutely intoxicating. I told myself, I want to have a home in East Hampton one day." And now he does. Colacello fell into the movers and shakers scene back in the 1970s when he wrote a review of Andy Warhol's Trash for The Village Voice. Next thing he knew he was the editor of Interview magazine and a fixture in Warhol's entourage. "We traveled all over the place. Andy liked to have people around who could talk for him. It was useful ...... I brought all my experiences to the magazine and vice versa," said Colacello. At that time, 1971, Colacello met Rivers on a farm on Millstone Road owned by Jerome Hill (uncle of Peter Beard). Warhol's Factory entourage, including Silva Miles and Bridget Berlin, came to hang out by the pool. Rivers was a part of that group. "He was funny. He was videotaping back then and tried to create roles and little melodramas and sketches." At the time, Rivers was living on Little Plains Road in Southampton and was often seen riding around with women on his motorcycle, and unlike many visual artists, he enjoyed having people around when he was working. Colacello remembered, "One afternoon Larry drew a portrait of me, ripped it up into three pieces, Scotch-Taped it back together, and handed it to me and said, 'This is you.'"

His persona seemed to encompass that spontaneous, creative spirit. One afternoon Colacello's parents drove to the East End and upon hearing that they were die-hard, Republican, square, Nixon supporters, Rivers wanted to know why. So he brought out his video camera and started interviewing the folks. "We all thought it was hysterical. Larry didn't have an agenda - he was curious. He was a witty, Jewish guy from the Bronx who didn't put on the facade of superiority," said Colacello.

Rivers was born Yitzroch Loiza Grossberg in 1923, in the Bronx, and when he became a jazz musician (after studying at Juilliard with lifelong friend, musician Miles Davis) and started touring the country. He changed his name when somebody introduced him as "Larry Rivers and the Mudcats." Rivers was first turned on to painting while playing music with Jack Freilicher, husband of the artist Jane Freilicher. After being honorably discharged from the Army for medical reasons, Rivers studied in New York and began exhibiting. He was influenced by lifelong friends such as the poets Frank O'Hara, John Ashbery and Kenneth Koch.

Speaking of the exhibit, Guild Hall curator Christina Mossaides Strassfield said, "This is a rare opportunity to experience many of the pivotal pieces of an artist who redefined the American Avant-Garde. Larry Rivers' paintings and multimedia works compel an immediate visceral response. They are almost ceaseless in their demand for emotional engagement."

This exhibition, the first show on the East End since Rivers' death in 2002, helps to define his role in shaping art history. The work on view is loaned from multiple art institutions, including the Hirshhorn Museum, the Sculpture Garden of the Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Larry Rivers Foundation and the Larry Rivers Estate, as well as private collectors. On view will be many of Rivers' portraits of "Berdie" (his mother-in-law), including "Double Portrait of Berdie," "Berdie Seated," and two "Fast Berdie" drawings. There will also be provocative historical narratives, including "The Greatest Homosexual," "The Last Civil War Veteran" and the prodigious, powerful multi-media construction of "History of the Russian Revolution."

Guild Hall's Boots Lamb Education Center will show rare photographs, along with video and film of Rivers at work and play. In addtion, on Saturday, August 23, curator Strassfield will give a Gallery Talk, and on Sunday, Sept. 27 , Helen A. Harrison, Director of the Pollock-Krasner House & Study Center will give a lecture on "Larry Rivers: Life into Art." All events are free with admission to the museum.

Additional public programs in this Riversfest include a Naked Stage Presentation of "The Art of Love" Poems by Kenneth Koch, a long-time friend of Rivers, on Saturday, Sept. 20, and showings of two films: Larry Rivers: Public and Private by Lana Jokel (Aug. 16, Sept. 13 and Oct. 11) and Pull My Daisy, a short film that typifies the Beat Generation (Aug. 17, Sept. 14, and Oct. 12).

Be it the movies, writing or artwork that draws you in, don't miss out on Rivers. For more information, call 631-324-0806, or visit www.guildhall.org.