The Arts Center at Duck Creek is pleased to announce Darklight, an exhibition of six large-scale self portrait paintings by artist Darius Yektai. The show will be open to the public September 5 - 27, Thursday through Sunday from 2pm-6pm. The artist will be present at the gallery on Sundays.

For the past 20 years, the self portrait has played an important role in Mr. Yektai’s work. He visits the subject periodically in his studio practice, usually on a small and intimate scale. The works are executed over time and serve as a place for the artist to unravel and reveal his emotions. He has noted that he draws on both his inner conflict and the challenges of the painting process to evoke an image that represents the parallels in both. Yektai states “These vessels of darkness are testaments to the sadnesses and difficulties of life, transmuted into hopefulness and achievement.”

In 2003, art critic Robert Long described Yektai’s small self portraits in a Guild Hall Museum exhibition as “looking at Rembrandt with all the lights turned out.’’. This comment was a pivotal moment for Yektai, and he began pushing his own image deeper into the darkness and drawing more on his raw emotion.

It is Yektai’s intent that a conceptual shift takes place in this installation. That the viewer becomes as much the subject of the exhibition as the paintings themselves. “Walking into this room and faced with these large dark totems brings the viewer back to themselves. This is not about ego; this is about the human condition. We all experience these emotions. This is about life.” As you sit in the shrine-like space of the barn surrounded by these dimly lit portraits, Yektai hopes the light they depict evokes the triumph over darkness that helped to create them.

On September 11, from 7-10pm, a sound installation titled NOT WHAT I IMAGINED by interdisciplinary artist, Anthony Madonna, and composer and audio producer, Hannah Fredsgaard-Jones will take place within the exhibition. Composed of various field recordings, vocal improvisations, and journal entires, the piece situates the listener in the center of Madonna’s explorations of and mediations within the natural landscapes of the Hamptons. Paired with Yektai’s Darklight paintings, the piece invites an intimate audience for an immersive multi-sensory experience; introspectively questioning human connection, stillness, and natural surroundings through visual and aural mediums.

Darius Yektai (b. 1973, Southampton, NY) lives and works in Sag Harbor, NY. He is greatly influenced by his father, Manoucher Yektai, a prominent Abstract Expressionist painter who emigrated to the States from Iran after World War II. Yektai studied painting at San Diego State University and has a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from American University in Paris. Yet has show extensively on the East End of Long Island—including a solo show at Guild Hall in 2003, and multiple solo exhibitions at Tripoli Gallery. Recently Yektai mounted an exhibition of paintings at Grenning Gallery, Sag Harbor and his participation in the Drive By Art Show organized by Warren Neidich, was featured prominently in the New York Times. For more information on the artists visit https://www.dyektai.com.

Anthony Madonna is an interdisciplinary collaborative artist, educator, and administrator. Working within diverse contexts and communities he has led workshops, produced performance series and academic events, and showed/performed work within institutions such as The Barbican Centre (London), Tate Exchange; Tate Modern (London), The Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts; The Juilliard School (NYC) and other community focused centers. Anthony currently serves as the inaugural Patti Kenner Fellow in Arts Education at Guild Hall of East Hampton. Anthony is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama; M.M. Music Leadership, The Juilliard School’s “Professional Apprenticeship Program,” and Westminster Choir College; B.M. Music Education and Vocal Performance.

Hannah Fredsgaard-Jones is a singer, songwriter, composer, and audio documentary maker. Rooted in storytelling, her work encompasses folklore, memory, voice, and intimacy. Hannah holds a BMus. In Songwriting from the Royal Danish Academy in Aarhus, and a MMus. In Leadership from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Hannah is a Roundhouse Resident Artist alumni, and the founder of the Glasgow artist collective, Blue Tongue Collective. https://www.hannahfredsgaardjones.com

For further information please contact Jess Frost at duckcreekarts@gmail.com