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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Susan Galardi
631-283-2118 x122
[email protected]
THE WRITINGS, PAINTINGS, AND GARDEN PHILOSOPHY OF ARTIST ROBERT
DASH EXPLORED BY A DISTINGUISHED PANEL OF FRIENDS, SATURDAY,
APRIL 11, 11AM
Poet Douglas Crase, Guggenheim Curator Alexandra Munroe, and New York
Times Garden Writer Anne Raver Join Parrish Curator Alicia Longwell in a
Roundtable Discussion
Robert Dash and Douglas Crase at Madoo, 1979. Photograph by Frank Polach.
WATER MILL, NY 3/26/2015—The painting, writings, and gardening concept of Robert Dash will be
explored and discussed by a distinguished panel of authorities in their fields—all friends of the late artist
who lived and worked in Sagaponack, New York, whose work is currently on view in Robert Dash: Theme
and Variations at the Parrish Art Museum. Noted poet Douglas Crase; Alexandra Munroe, Samsung
Senior Curator, Asian Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; and Anne Raver, New York Times garden
writer will join Alicia Longwell, the Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Chief Curator, Art and Education at the
Parrish on Saturday, April 11 at 11am, for the program, Robert Dash: Theme and Variations—A
Roundtable Discussion.
“I can’t think of a more perfect assembly for this intimate conversation about the life and work of Robert
Dash,” said Longwell, who first met the artist in the 1980s. “The world Bob created at Madoo is a living
tribute to his gifts as artist, poet, writer, and gardener and I look forward to hearing from this splendid
gathering of his friends.”
Douglas Crace, a friend of Dash for nearly 40 years and a fellow poet, became a frequent guest at Madoo
following his first visit to the residence and two-acre garden in 1973. Crace is the author of the critically
acclaimed poetry collection, The Revisionist; a “commonplace” book, Amerifil.Txt; and the dual biography
of a ‘50s arts couple, Dwight Ripley and Rupert Barneby, Both: A Portrait in Two Parts. He has published
essays of his favorite poets, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Ashbery, Lorine Niedecker, and
James Schuyler. Crace attended Princeton University and is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a
Whiting Writers' Award, and a MacArthur Fellowship.
Alexandra Munroe, Ph.D., a pioneering authority on modern and contemporary Asian art and
transnational art studies, has a home on the East End, visited Madoo frequently, and had a long-standing
affinity for Robert Dash’s total concept of art and the garden. A curator at the Guggenheim since 2006,
Munroe has organized the award-winning and critically acclaimed Guggenheim exhibitions including Lee
Ufan: Marking Infinity (2011) and The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860–1989 (2009);
as well as the exhibitions and publications such as Art of Mu Xin (2002), YES YOKO ONO (2000).
Monroe holds a BA from Sophia University, Tokyo, an MA from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York
University, and a Ph.D. in History from New York University. Her exhibitions and scholarly catalogues
have received awards and recognition from the Association of American Art Museums, International Art
Critics Association, College Art Association, Association of American Museum Curators, and other
institutions.
Anne Raver, a friend of Robert Dash and an admirer of his gardening philosophy since the 1990s, wrote
about Madoo during her tenure as garden columnist at the New York Times (1991-2006). A frequent
public speaker, Raver recently gave a talk at Madoo and has been a guest speaker at Harvard Graduate
School of Design, International Conference on Global Warming, Chicago Botanic Garden, and
Horticultural Society of New York, to name just a few. Raver is currently a regular contributor to the
Times, as well as to The American Gardener, Town & Country, Travel & Leisure, and many others. The
author of several books (including Deep in the Green) is the recipient of numerous awards including New
York Times and Newsday Publisher’s Awards, Bradford Williams Medal, American Society of Landscape
Architects, American Horticultural Society Writing Award, and many others.
Robert Dash (1934–2013), born in New York City, became interested in the Abstract Expressionists as a
student of ethnology and literature at the University of New Mexico. Upon graduation, he moved to New
York where he worked as an editor and art critic, and, with no formal training, began painting. In 1967,
Dash purchased the property in Sagaponack, New York, where he painted, designed his unique, personal
garden, and wrote poetry as well as a bimonthly column, “Notes from Madoo,” for an East Hampton
weekly newspaper. Dash’s paintings are in collections nationwide. The current exhibition of his work at
the Parrish presents the final series of eleven paintings created by Dash in Sagaponack, plus eight works
on paper that explore a single image of Sagg Main Street.
Robert Dash: Theme & Variations is made possible, in part, by the generous support of The Alec Baldwin
Foundation, Miguel and Vivian Barg, Charlotte Moss and Barry Friedberg, Leslie Rose Close, and
Pingree and Donald Louchheim
Robert Dash: Theme and Variations—A Roundtable Discussion
Saturday, April 11, 11am
• $10 | Free for Members, Children, and Students
Includes Museum admission. Space is limited; advance reservations recommended.
About the Parrish Art Museum
Inspired by the natural setting and artistic life of Long Island’s East End, the Parrish Art Museum
illuminates the creative process and how art and artists transform our experiences and understanding of
the world and how we live in it. The Museum fosters connections among individuals, art, and artists
through care and interpretation of the collection, presentation of exhibitions, publications, educational
initiatives, programs, and artists-in residence. The Parrish is a center for cultural engagement, an
inspiration and destination for the region, the nation, and the world.