Bonnie Rychlak

The Bridgehampton Museum is pleased to present an exhibition by renowned artist and curator Bonnie Rychlak in our newly inaugurated contemporary exhibition space located in the renovated tractor barn on our William A Corwith Homestead campus. The exhibition opening will take place on Saturday August 8^th from 5-7pm and run through September 6^th.  This exhibition marks the first solo show by the artist with the Bridgehampton museum. Rychlak is in the museum’s permanent collection and has been included in two previous group shows. The exhibition is focused on Rychlak's encaustic works.  The works are hung on the wall as well as placed directly onto the floor.  The viewer does not just "view" these pieces, they experience them; they engage with them by walking around them and are forced to peer into hidden cavities that reveal internal patterning and structures. 

Rychlak states, “Objects placed on the floor—my drains anyway—infer something underground, underneath" Conversely, she posits, "So it might be read that what is vertical is freeing, upward is joyful, whereas works on the ground are considered abject, not aspirational.”

Jo Anna Isaak writes of Bonnie Rychlak's work:

For the most part, the current works are not referencing outdoor industrial urban objects placed on the ground, a positioning that previously characterized her drain works, evoking the subterranean and the hidden. Instead, many of these newer pieces are presented as reliefs hung on the wall, fundamentally altering their relationship with the viewer and the exhibition space. This seemingly simple change in orientation carries profound symbolic weight. 

The iconic circular form associated with the drain motif is retained in most of these newer works, but not the representation of the drain; instead, actual metal kitchen or bathroom drains are inserted into the protruding forms. This move from representation to direct inclusion of the object itself intensifies the dialogue between art and everyday life, grounding the abstract forms in a tangible, recognizable reality. Untitled (2019) incorporates a non-functional electrical light component and a metal drain somewhat clogged with threads.  The "non-functional" light component introduces a sense of broken utility or symbolic illumination, while the "clogged" drain maintains a connection to blockages and hidden detritus, now perhaps more personal or domestic in scale.

In many of the works included in this exhibition, the presence of drains is referenced more subtly, often reduced to small, circular metal disks. These disks are typically placed slightly off-center in the circular form, disrupting the symmetry and drawing attention to their placement. This shift from a conduit of waste to an aperture for observation signals a change in the implied interaction between the artwork and the viewer. Instead of looking down into a drain (implicating oneself in the "crap" that goes down), the viewer is now invited to look into a peephole, implying an act of looking at something hidden, observed, or revealed.

The shift towards the "interior" and "domestic" is further emphasized by Rychlak's choice of fabric in her wall-hung reliefs. Now, instead of the viewer looking down at a drain, they are confronted with a protruding circular form meticulously covered with old burlap, or soft felt, or ornate flocked or piled fabrics. These textures evoke warmth, comfort, and familiarity. They are materials that might have been used to cover a sofa or a bed, directly linking the artworks to the intimate, lived spaces of a home. The selection of strong, thick fabrics is also strategic, as these materials possess a particular quality: they absorb the wax, becoming an integral part of the encaustic process rather than merely a substrate. This absorption creates a unique visual and tactile surface, combining the domestic textile with the ancient, enduring wax.

For More Information

Tim Malyk, Chief Curator and Collections Manager, Bridgehampton Museum

Museum Phone: (631) 537-1088 | Email: tim@bhmuseum.org

For more details on the exhibition - click here.