There’s always been a certain rhythm to summer in the Hamptons—long dinners, beach mornings, late sunsets, and weekends that somehow blur together. But over the last few years, the East End has quietly evolved into one of the country’s most compelling cultural destinations during the summer season.
This year especially, the art world has arrived out East in full force.
From major institutional exhibitions to intimate gallery presentations and site-specific installations, the Hamptons’ cultural calendar feels more ambitious than ever. Here are some of the exhibitions defining the season.
“Alan Ruiz: De sol a sol”
Where: Dia Bridgehampton
When: Opening June 26
Why It’s Worth A Look: Ruiz is unveiling a new piece influenced by the Dia Bridgehampton building’s past lives (before becoming a space for conceptual art, it was both a fire station and a Baptist church) and the locale’s history of labor. In a landscape as layered as the Hamptons, Ruiz has plenty to work with.
Know Before You Go: Ruiz, who was born in Mexico City and grew up on Long Island, deconstructs industrial and bureaucratic spaces to expose the underlying ideologies beneath them through spare sculptural works often identified with little more than a string of numbers and letters.
“Sanford Biggers: Drift”
Where: Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill
When: Through Sept. 13
Why It’s Worth A Look: The show highlights Biggers’s expansive practice through the motif of a cloud. Cloud-like sculptures drift through the gallery space while quilt works from Biggers’s “Codex” series take on puffy, cumulus forms. “Drift” will also feature a site-specific sand installation drawing inspiration from Buddhist mandalas.
Know Before You Go: This is the artist’s first major solo exhibition on the East End and is part of the Parrish’s year-long exhibition series examining American values on the nation’s semiquincentennial.
“Arcmanoro Niles: Forgotten Words I Never Got to Say”
Where: Guild Hall, East Hampton
When: Through July 19
Why It’s Worth A Look: This show spans a full decade of Niles’s output, beginning with his Guild Hall residency in 2016. Sherbert hues of raspberry, tangerine, and turquoise simmer beneath his singular figures’ skin while glitter is often layered right on top—pushing up against traditional portraiture.
Know Before You Go: In his depictions of everyday Black life, the Washington DC-born artist also often sneaks in creatures that he dubs “seekers,” imps and stick figures inspired by ancient Egyptian sculpture, representing his characters’ most base impulses.
“48” by Sean Scully
Where: LongHouse Reserve, East Hampton
When: Through Dec. 24, 2028
Why It’s Worth A Look: Scully’s 20-foot-tall sculpture—a stack of six-foot, square aluminum plates, each painted a different color—is part of a vibrant cohort of sculptural forms new to LongHouse this summer, arriving alongside works from Renée Cox and William Kentridge.
Know Before You Go: The Irish-American artist’s piece is in good company: LongHouse’s sculpture garden already has a formidable collection of permanent pieces and long-term loans including works from Willem de Kooning, Maren Hassinger, Sol LeWitt, and Yoko Ono.
“THIS LAND: Considering The American Landscape”
Where: The Church, Sag Harbor
When: June 21 – Sept. 6
Why It’s Worth A Look: The Church handed two curators a single, open-ended question—what is the American landscape?—and let them build from there. Donna De Salvo, a curator at Dia, and Seph Rodney, a writer and independent curator, have assembled a sharp critique of American geographies from the Hudson River Valley to Los Angeles’s urban sprawl to the slowly eroding shores of Miami Beach.
Know Before You Go: De Salvo comes to the Church hot off a Steve McQueen commission, Bass, at Dia Beacon, while Rodney mounted SFMoMA’s largest exhibition to date in 2024, a show focused on the relationship between artists and athletes.
“Betty Parsons / Carla Accardi”
Where: Peter Marino Art Foundation, Southampton
When: Through Oct. 3
Why It’s Worth A Look: Parsons—best known as the gallerist who launched the careers of Jackson Pollock, Robert Rauschenberg, and Barnett Newman—was also a committed painter in her own right. The Italian Arte Povera painter Carla Accardi, who helped revolutionize abstraction in postwar Europe, serves as Parsons’s visual counterpart in this show.
Know Before You Go: The Foundation has one of the most enviable show lineups in the East End this summer, including other exhibitions from Y. Z. Kami, Robert Nava, and Tiffany Silver.
“The Story of America 1776-2026”
Where: Southampton Arts Center
When: Through July 18
Why It’s Worth A Look: This show traces 250 years of American presidential campaign history through artifacts from the Wright Family Collection. It’s an archive of the historic (the original flag flown at George Washington’s inauguration), the kitsch (Eisenhower branded corn flakes), and the downright weird (Nixon paper dress, anyone?).
Know Before You Go: Even amongst the goofy hijinks of campaign trails, the exhibition is a reminder that democracy is an ongoing project: It contextualizes these presidential artifacts beside major social movements including women’s suffrage, civil rights, labor rights, and more.
“(There’s Gonna Be A) Showdown: Matthew Satz at the Pollock-Krasner House”
Where: Pollock-Krasner House, Springs
When: June 18 – July 19
Why It’s Worth A Look: The venue is part of the draw—and inspiration—for this exhibition. Satz, who has been based on the East End since 1995, has made new work specifically in response to the storied location, presented alongside a selection of signature works.
Know Before You Go: Jackson Pollock’s influence on the Brooklyn-born artist is clear: both engage paint’s physical drip and velocity. But while Pollock’s works revolved around a radial splatter, Satz engages more deeply with a slow vertical movement, like candle wax on a line.
“Brent Richardson: Everything and Nothing”
Where: Arts Center at Duck Creek, Springs
When: June 27 – August 2
Why It’s Worth A Look: Richardson’s monochromatic drawings and oil paintings pull from an unlikely constellation of references including custom car culture, B-movies, Jasper Johns, surf music, psychedelic comics, and early Mondrian. His work is surreal, influenced by the atmosphere of Montauk where Richardson lives and surfs.
Know Before You Go: After moving to Manhattan in the ’80s, working for Robert Rauschenberg and Tibor Kalman, designing an AC/DC album cover, and collaborating with Diane Keaton, Richardson stepped away from his practice, reemerging onto the scene in a 2023 group show at the Ranch in Montauk.
“Echoes of Origin: The Human Thread”
Where: Southampton African American Museum
When: Through July 5
Why It’s Worth A Look: Organized in collaboration with Artgal.Online, this group show brings four Zimbabwean artists—Keith Zenda, Barry Lungu, Tonderai Mujuru, and William Mujuru—to the East End for an exhibition threading together themes of heritage, identity, and human connection.
Know Before You Go: Artgal.Online, founded by Dennis Ruf, has been building a platform to connect Zimbabwean artists with international audiences across Zurich, Berlin, Dubai, and New York.
“WINDOWS”
Where: Halsey McKay Gallery, East Hampton
When: Through July 13
Why It’s Worth A Look: Halsey McKay’s summer group show unites 36 artists across generations and sensibilities, from Jane Freilicher and Geoffrey Hendricks to Hope Gangloff, Cynthia Daignault, and Henry Glavin.
Know Before You Go: As one might expect from the name, the gallery’s show is focused around the concept of windows, openings, apertures, and fenestra, both physical and metaphorical. And don’t miss out—the gallery is also running a Steven Cox solo exhibition from June 20 through July 13.
“Summer of 69” by Maryam Eisler
Where: Harper’s, East Hampton
When: May 30 – July 1
Why It’s Worth A Look: London-based photographer Eisler shot “Summer of 69” on a Polaroid SX-70, similar to a camera her father gave her in childhood, paired with digital images shot out East over the last five years. The resulting body of work is a love letter to long, languid summer days in the Hamptons, the kind of popsicle and pool floatie-filled days that populate a Beach Boys song.
Know Before You Go: The series will also find life as a book published by Struktur, which launched at Photo London.
Final Thoughts
The Hamptons have always been tied to creativity, but this summer feels particularly exciting—more layered, more ambitious, and more globally relevant than ever. As highlighted in Culture Magazine by Eve Eismann, the East End’s art scene continues to evolve into one of the most compelling cultural destinations of the season, where world-class exhibitions, design, and community all converge.
