Larry Rivers at Guild Hall

The excellent exhibition of Larry Rivers's Major Early Works at Guild Hall in East Hampton should do much to generate questions about this post-war painter's place in American art. But as with the Beat literati, with whom he was closely associated, the life threatens to overshadow the art. In Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie's iconic 1959 “Pull My Daisy,” narrated by Jack Kerouac, Rivers, as Milo a railway brakeman reminiscent of Neal Cassady, cavorts with Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, Gregory Corso, Delphine Seyrig, Alice Neel, David Amram, and other downtown art figures. The up-tight bishop and family visit his bohemian artist's loft with hilarious results. But the object of the satire is social, liberating American culture without a direct reference to politics. At a panel on August 10, “I Remember Larry” moderated by Bob Colacello, Barbara Goldsmith, John Gruen, Lana Jokel, David Joel and Jane Wilson shared anecdotes about Rivers, his horn playing, his irreverence, in particular his sexual audacity, and his love of little girls that made Lewis Carroll a kindred spirit. In passing, they asked the critical questions about his art: was he good? Great?  Seeing the work-and you can until October 19--may help to jump start a new conversation. The exhibition includes many portraits of Berdie including the 1955 masterpiece “Double Portrait of Berdie,” the shocking famous full frontal nude of Frank O'Hara, a pencil drawing of Kerouac from 1960, as well as the large scale mural, “History of the Russian Revolution” (1965). Is Larry Rivers an overlooked Abstract Expressionist? Is his importance merely a case of guilt by association? How will history remember Larry Rivers? What strikes me during this week of the Democratic Convention is how Rivers and his art world cohorts, as commentators on American ideals, might now be acting out.

Regina Weinreich 

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura

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