The Montauk Beach House Is Hosting Pop-Up Art Shows All Summer

With its bounty of oceanfront hotels, delectable restaurants, and surf-style boutiques, Montauk is clearly in contention for the hottest community in the Hamptons. Now one resort in “the End” is also becoming the go-to destination for emerging artists, thanks to a series of pop-up exhibitions taking place in its lobby. The Montauk Beach House, a stylish boutique hotel in the heart of the downtown, has hosted weeklong installations by Alex Moore, Lizzie Gill, and Leah Schrager so far this season, with shows by Andy Davis, Ciara Rafferty, and Taylor Slater coming up.

The bar at the Montauk Beach House.

Roman Fine Art founder Damien Roman is curating the shows alongside the resort’s creative director and head designer, Walt Lindveld. “We try to take the approach that art is a process of discovery,” Lindveld tells Galerie. “We figure that if we expose our clientele to things we like—whether they might or might not be familiar with them—they just might discover something new and unexpected or outside of their go-to likes. Of course, from a design perspective, art serves to beautify our lobby space and keep it fresh.”

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The summer-long series kicked off in May with “Above + Below,” a series of photographic works taken by Rebecca Underdown in Malibu following the fires last fall. That exhibition was followed by a display of provocative polaroids by Alex Moore starting on June 7. Then the lobby was awash with Lizzie Gill’s “Summer Solstice” series of beach-vibes mixed-media pieces starting on June 13.

Exposure by Leah Schrager.

Brooklyn artist Leah Schrager took over the space with her digitally manipulated self-portrait series, “Unprotected Specs,” during July Fourth weekend. As part of her reception, Schrager debuted her first live performance, Angles on a Woman, which incorporated the resort’s swimming pool and was subsequently broadcast across several of the artist’s Instagram feeds. (Schrager’s work will also be shown at the upcoming Watermill Center summer benefit on July 27, followed by the group show “Art on the Edge” at Roman Fine Art.)

“We hope that people can feel inspired by the love and beauty in an art piece and choose to support the artist’s career,” says Lindveld. “Art can be so intimate, as much as it can just simply be beautiful in the eyes of the viewer. Art has the power to inspire as much as it has the power to simply make a space better. It can be a conversational piece; it can be a thoughtful or meaningful. Art is an important part of life.”

Coming up on July 19, the Montauk Beach House will host artist Andy Davis’s inaugural East Coast solo show; to coincide with the debut, the resort will welcome legendary surf craft creator Jon Wegener, who is bringing some traditional wooden paipo and alaia surfboards that the artist will customize. “Andy’s work is so beautiful and full of loving, summery vibes,” says Lindveld. “Montauk is such a huge surf community, so Andy’s work is extremely appealing. And with surfing culture finally coming around to mainstream appeal, I think it is so fitting to the Montauk summer experience. People can really feel it through his work, whether they personally surf or not.”