Parrish Road Show: Auto Body

Parrish Road Show, now in its sixth year, is the Parrish Art Museum’s creative off-site summer series featuring temporary projects by East End artists. Road Show is designed to deeply connect creativity to everyday life by presenting exhibitions and programs in unexpected places–from public parks to historic sites–across the region.

For the 2017 Parrish Road Show, the Parrish is partnering with Bellport-based artist collective Auto Body who created a multi-site art installation at several locations along Montauk Highway, one of the oldest and most scenic roadways on southern Long Island. The project consists of text-based works that reimagine the common roadside advertisement from an object that promotes consumerism to one that champions the natural environment. With nature-themed colloquial phrases strung along the road-scape, each work highlights a nearby natural site—the Great South Bay, a bird sanctuary, a hiking trail, a scenic outlook (see pdf to the left).

The installation spans Montauk Highway, which connects Bellport and Water Mill, and is oriented in both eastbound and westbound directions. While it can be viewed from the road, drivers are encouraged to pause, park, and experience the work in open air. By choosing this stretch of Montauk Highway as an exhibition space for art, Auto Body elevates the importance of the route and the local towns and landscapes that are usually sped by. At each spot, visitors will find information about nearby nature spots and a map of all the sites. They are also available for download as pdf’s to the left.

Locations: Varney’s Restaurant, 2109 Montauk Highway, Brookhaven; Bush Farms, 2948 Montauk Highway, Brookhaven; Carman’s River Canoe & Kayak, 2979 Montauk Highway, Brookhaven; Mustard Seed Café, 177 Main Street, Center Moriches; The Easterner Motel, 639 Montauk Highway, Southampton; and The Parrish Art Museum, 279 Montauk Highway, Water Mill.

Auto Body artists: Tyler Healy, Johnny Knapp, Aria McManus, Claire Read, Georgia Read, Will Rose, Quinn Sherman, and Charlie Stravinsky.

Be a part of Parrish Road Show and tag your photos of the artworks on Instagram with #parrishroadshow2017

Parrish Road Show: Auto Body is made possible, in part, by the generous support of Jane Wesman and Donald Savelson, Sandy and Stephen Perlbinder, and Tina Kim and Jae Chung. Public Funding provided by Suffolk County.  Hamptons Art Hub is the digital media sponsor of Parrish Road Show; Hamptons Magazine is the media sponsor.