Painter and curator Christopher Lucore has accomplished much during his four years as part of the East End art scene, from opening The Lucore Art in Montauk to the next steps of his artistic career.
The Lucore Art and Less Time for Personal Work
Lucore made the decision to open his personal studio and gallery in the spring of 2021, and ever since, he has held regular shows by a variety of artists while refining his own visual style. Between March and today, Lucore has shown nearly twelve different groups of artists in his gallery, and it is during this time that he developed a new abstract painting style for himself. Despite this personal progression, Lucore lamented that the constant curation had given him less time to work on his own projects.
“One of my problems with this year was that I had been doing so much show curation that I felt like I didn’t do enough painting,” Lucore said.
A New Visual Style for Lucore
However, what Lucore has managed to accomplish is distinct from his usual approach. He shared that the new method originated from abstracts that made use of traditional painting techniques but transformed into more of a collage style formed from dried acrylic paint. As Lucore continues to work, this style continues to morph and change.
“What I’ve been doing now is using these blobs, which allows me to be more free form,” Lucore explained, “Like I don’t have to make a sketch of what I’m going to do beforehand.”
Intricacy and Expansion
The forms of Lucore’s paintings, which involve several interlocking paint rings applied to a canvas, are incredibly difficult to achieve without sketches or guidelines. Despite this, Lucore’s consistent practice with this new visual style has enabled him to be more playful with what he creates, fitting his peeled acrylic paint sheets on the canvas until the composition is shaped before his eyes. Lucore, rather than defining where his designs will be placed, lets it carry him to its instinctive conclusion.
As with many examples of instinctive art, the size of Lucore’s paintings has only grown. Some pieces are as small as 48” x 60” while others have expanded in scope to be upwards of 6’ x 8’ or 4’ x 12’—and as the size of the canvas grows, so does the amount of time he puts in. Lucore says that one of these larger paintings can take him almost 200 hours or about a month of work.
“Now,” Lucore explained, “regardless of how big the canvas is, I have all this inventory of pieces, and I can start moving them around, thinking about how the colors are distributed around the canvas, how the things are turned and how they interact. So, it sort of allows me to sketch directly on a large scale… I’ll be looking at it, and I’ll sort of get to discover what it is as I’m working on it, or what it is to me, at least.”
Becoming Part of the Local Community
Through The Lucore Art and his own artistic vision, Lucore has become a mainstay of Montauk’s art community. He helps artists install shows in his own gallery and others, promoting a spirit of collaboration amongst local curators and creatives alike. Lucore’s work has been shown at the Hamptons Fine Art Fair, something which he is proud to have taken part in.
“I always said I wasn’t going to go until I was going as an exhibiting artist,” Lucore said.
Visit The Lucore Art’s Guided By Time
The Lucore Art has shows planned through December. It is currently showing the Guided By Time exhibition, which was co-curated by Lucore and artist Haim Mizrahi and will be on view until November 29. The show also features work from Steven Romm, Anahi DeCanio, Fanyu Lin, Imani Bilal, Chris Kelly, and Anne Raymond, many of whose pieces are available for purchase.