Harper’s is pleased to announce Two Paths, a presentation of work by Sandra Caplan and Ray Ciarrocchi comprising paintings produced over the span of four decades. Two Paths opens on Saturday, May 6, 6–8pm, with a reception attended by the artists.
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The art world is a fickle place. Tastes change, galleries close, and artists who were once popular can slide into oblivion. Browse an Artforum from the 80s or 90s and many of the names will be unfamiliar. It is not a forgiving profession, and the market rarely corrects itself. What, then, is the definition of success for an artist? Is it a museum retrospective, a big number at auction, a show at a blue-chip gallery, a review in The New York Times?
When I arrived on a cold winter day at Sandra Caplan and Ray Ciarrocchi’s studio at Westbeth, on Bethune Street in the West Village, I was not thinking about how artists measure success; Sandra had sent me images of her lush still lifes by email and I was simply curious to see them in person. I knew her husband Ray was also an artist of some renown, but I didn’t realize that they shared a studio. Nor did I know anything about Westbeth, where they had lived and worked since its inception as a subsidized artist colony in 1970.
I recognized one of Sandra’s paintings immediately, propped up against a window that looked out on the Hudson River. The studio was filled with art. As I walked to the window, I noticed Ray, seated at a table where dozens of his small landscape paintings were arrayed like a holiday feast. These were clearly no ordinary painters, and this was not your average studio.
Sandra began to display her paintings one by one in the small space. Ray commented from his chair. The colors of Sandra’s paintings radiated from the canvas. And when she brought out Downtown View, September (1989), painted from the spot where I stood, the twin towers hazy in autumnal light, I saw my own New York story flash before my eyes.
In today’s art world, we are used to seeing paintings of the mundane: flowers, landscapes, bowls of fruit, teacups, the glorification of the interior world. But for artists like Sandra and Ray, who came up in a different era, these subjects had fallen distinctly out of favor. Yet they carried on, undeterred by age, unfazed by a diminished audience. Ray’s sublime landscapes, casually laid out on a table, had all been painted during the pandemic. It was extraordinary.
I left the studio that day and walked towards Chelsea, the cold wind blowing off the river. Half a mile never felt so far. Had I stumbled onto greatness, or was I consumed by sentimentality? One thing I knew for a fact: the story of Sandra and Ray is classic New York. The pre-Giuliani city I grew up in, where Bethune Street was filled with characters out of film noir, where the artists could live and work, where Florent was the only game in town. Turns out the greatest art is to endure.
—Written by Harper Levine
Sandra Caplan (b. 1936, Winnipeg, MB) received a BFA from University of Manitoba in 1957, an MFA from Boston University in 1959, and an MFA from Yale University in 1960. Most recently, her work has been the subject of solo presentations at Kinescope Gallery, New York (2019); Westbeth Gallery, New York (2017 and 2003); New York Public Library, New York (2015); Thatcher, Proffitt & Wood, New York (2008); La Fortezza, Civitella del Tronto, IT (2005); and Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn (1997). Caplan has participated in recent group exhibitions at Colm Rowan Fine Arts, East Hampton, NY (2021); Westbeth Gallery (2019, 2016, 2012, and 2003); First Street Gallery, New York (2010); and University of Manitoba, Winnipeg (2004). Her work is included in numerous public collections including Boston Mutual Life Insurance, Boston; Connor Clark Ltd, Toronto; Investors Group, Winnipeg; and The Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg. Caplan lives and works in New York City.
Ray Ciarrocchi (b. 1933, Chicago, IL) received a BFA from Washington University in 1959, and an MFA from Boston University in 1961. His work has been the subject of solo presentations at University of Richmond, VA (2015 and 1991); La Fortezza, Civitella del Tronto, IT (2004); Katharina Rich Perlow Gallery, New York (1996 and 1993); Fischbach Gallery, New York (1989 and 1987); and Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York (1985, 1983, 1980, 1978, 1976, 1974, 1972 and 1971). Ciarrocchi’s work has been included in notable group exhibitions at University of Richmond, VA (2017); Rich Perlow Gallery, New York (2005); Gallery 53, Cooperstown, NY (1994 and 1988); Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Loretto, PA (1991 and 1988); Neuberger Museum, Purchase, NY (1977); and Headley-Whitney, Lexington, KY (1976). His work is held in the collections of numerous institutions, including Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore; Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn; Ciba-Geigy AG, Basel; and Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus. Ciarrocchi lives and works in New York City.