Every summer, the well-heeled elite of New York’s art world migrates en masse to the Hamptons. This year, that migration happened earlier than usual and, for many, it felt more like a forced retreat than a voluntary vacation. 

Now, one of the city’s art-world power couples is launching a venture for that captive audience of art lovers and collectors. Amalia Dayan, who co-runs Luxembourg & Dayan, and her husband Adam Lindemann, who operates Venus Over Manhattan, are opening an exhibition space in Montauk, on the easternmost tip of the island. 

The space, South Etna Montauk, is a separate entity from the couple’s respective galleries and will join an increasingly crowded group opening in the Hamptons this summer, including Hauser & Wirth, Pace, and Skarstedt Gallery. The enclave has become all the more important for dealers who missed out on the season’s art fairs and can’t accommodate foot traffic in their New York galleries. (In fact, Venus Over Manhattan recently filed suit against the company that owns its New York City location, Aby Rosen’s RFR Holding LLC, arguing that the lease was no longer applicable due to the shutdown.)

South Etna Montauk. Courtesy of the gallery.

“It’s an informal approach,” Lindemann told Artnet News of the Montauk project. He and his wife were calling from their Hamptons house, where they’ve spent most of the quarantine period. (Another property in the area owned by the couple is currently for sale.) “It’s not trying to be a high-powered New York City gallery transplanted into a vacation destination because we’re stuck here. It’s a place that aims to be relevant to the community that it’s in.”

Located in a fake Tudor building that’s equal parts charm and kitsch, the two room-space has windows on each side, making exhibitions easy to see from the exterior. Only a couple of people will be allowed in at a given time and the gallery “receptionist” will sit outside. The gallery’s sign was created by a friend and neighbor, artist Julian Schnabel.

Dennis Kardon, Illusions of Security (2005). Courtesy of the artist,
Massimo De Carlo, and South Etna Montauk.

The couple have each owned art galleries for years, but never seriously considered opening a space together. “Well, I had suggested a few before but Amalia had always refused,” Lindemann joked.

The idea for South Etna came less than six weeks ago, after Alison M. Gingeras, a curator who has organized the inaugural show at the space, suggested Dayan and Lindemann collaborate. At the time, with everything that was happening in the world, the idea felt wrong.

“But as the summer approached,” Lindemann explained,” we came to the conclusion that we’d feel better about ourselves and the world if we continue to continue to create programming that people around us will also benefit from and enjoy.”

“The recipe felt very right,” added Dayan. “It feels natural; it doesn’t feel forced.”

Andrew LaMar Hopkins, Greek Revival House Party (2018). Courtesy of the artist and South Etna Montauk.

South Etna Montauk will open July 16 with “Painting is Painting’s Favorite Food: Art History as Muse,” a group show that brings together artists whose central muse is art history itself. Among those included in the exhibition are Derrick Adams, John Currin. Betty Tompkins, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.

Dayan and Lindemann have a lease on the space through December. They’d like for the experiment to continue beyond 2020, but, as Lindemann noted, “it’s hard to make any long term plans and predictions at this point in time.”