In Profile: Edsel Williams

Summering Hamptonites are not noted for bringing art with them for the season. And among the Hamptons, the swampy The Springs neighborhood of East Hampton are more or less a ghetto—famous for its art history and remarkably preserved, which means it lacks the South Fork's requisite McMansions.

Against these odds, art advisor Edsel Williams opened The Fireplace Project, a contemporary art gallery in The Springs with rigorous programming and a sustained reason for collectors to creep out of their cul de sacs for the openings. Exhibitions at the Fireplace Project have proved significant turning points in the careers of young contemporary artists, perhaps for the vacation time fabrication and installation in the space provides. Just last summer, Agathe Snow unveiled her crisp, organized series of "rings," the first evidence of the artist's focused (if still chaotic) installations. At the end of the season, a solo exhibition by Bozidar Brazda saw the artist moving away from objects and materials in favor of sound installations, an interest he plans to pursue. Williams has built the kind of space in East Hamptons that somehow defies materialism. READ THE FULL PROFILE.


Programming resumes May 2010. The Fireplace Project is located at 851 Springs Fireplace Road.
PHOTOGRAPH: EDSEL WILLIAMS, JAY JOPLING, DAMIEN HIRST, ALEXANDRA MOLLOFF