The Watermill Center presents “The Disappearance of Landscape: Oakleyville, 1964–2022,” an exhibition investigating the practices of artists who lived and worked between New York City and the sparsely populated Fire Island community of Oakleyville from the mid-1960s to the present day, including Sheyla Baykal, Peter Hujar, Matthew Leifheit, Paul Thek, and Ann Wilson.
Opening on August 29 and running through March 20, the exhibition will feature a selection of paintings, photographs, and sculptures made by the artists while in Oakleyville. This exhibition is organized by Marcelo Gabriel Yanez and Noah Khoshbin.
Unincorporated and unlisted on maps, Oakleyville is an inholding within Fire Island’s storied maritime holly forest, which became a nexus for an interconnected network of queer Downtown New York artists beginning in 1964.
The exhibition also holds a particular connection to Paul Thek’s legacy at The Watermill Center. In 1988, Thek left his estate to his friend and longtime collaborator Robert Wilson, founder and artistic director of The Watermill Center. Since that time, the Center, in partnership with the Estate of Paul Thek, has worked to steward and advance Thek’s legacy by preserving and caring for his archive and collection. Today, The Watermill Center holds the most comprehensive collection of Thek’s works and papers, and keeps a selection of materials on permanent display.
For more info, visit watermillcenter.org.