Summer Salons
A Conversation with
Nicole Eisenman and
Helen Molesworth
Artist Nicole Eisenman is one of our contemporary moments’ great chroniclers. What does the world look and feel like? How do we make an image capable of holding the enormous contradictions of our time? What do the contours of everyday life in the 21st century look like when offered in the centuries old medium of painting? Nicole and Helen will dive into these questions and maybe even take on some of the differences between being queer, gay, and lesbian, as identities, as points of view, and as ways of seeing. The conversation will end with a “slide slam” as Nicole and Helen share some of their favorite images.
This unique cultural event begins at 5:00 pm with a reception on our courtyard, followed by the Summer Salon conversation starting at 6:00 pm in the Stanley Kunitz Common Room. The event will include a moderated Q&A with the audience.
Photo: Brigitte Lacombe
Nicole Eisenman lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She is a MacArthur Foundation Fellow and was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2018. Her work was included in both the 2019 Venice Biennale and the 2019 Whitney Biennial. Recent solo exhibitions include ‘What Happened’ at the Museum Brandhorst, Munich, Germany (2023), traveling to Whitechapel Gallery, London, United Kingdom (2023) and MCA Chicago, Chicago, IL (2024); ‘Heads, Kisses, Battles: Nicole Eisenman and the Moderns’ at Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany (2021), traveling to Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland (2022), Fondation Vincent Van Gogh, Arles, France (2022), and Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Netherlands (2022); ‘Giant Without a Body’ at the Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, Norway (2021); ‘Sturm und Drang’ at the Contemporary Austin, Austin, TX (2020); and ‘Baden Baden Baden’, at the Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden, Germany (2019). Having established herself as a painter, Nicole Eisenman has expanded her practice into the third dimension.
Photo: Catherine Opie
Helen Molesworth is a writer, podcaster, and curator based in Los Angeles and Provincetown. In 2023, Phaidon published Open Questions, Thirty Years of Writing About Art, an anthology of her essays. Her podcasts include Death of an Artist, a 6-part podcast about the intertwined fates of Carl Andre and Ana Mendieta, and the inaugural season of Recording Artists with The Getty. She is also the host of DIALOGUES, a podcast that features interviews with artists, writers, fashion designers, and filmmakers hosted by the David Zwirner Gallery. Her major museum exhibitions include: One Day at a Time: Manny Farber and Termite Art; Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College 1933–1957; Dance/Draw; This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s; Part Object Part Sculpture, and Work Ethic. She has organized one-person exhibitions of Ruth Asawa, Moyra Davey, Noah Davis, Louise Lawler, Steve Locke, Anna Maria Maiolino, Josiah McElheny, Kerry James Marshall, Catherine Opie, Amy Sillman, and Luc Tuymans. She is the author of numerous catalog essays, and her writing has appeared in Artforum, Art Journal, Documents, and October. The recipient of the 2011 Bard Center for Curatorial Studies Award for Curatorial Excellence, in 2021 she received a Guggenheim Fellowship, and in 2022 she was awarded The Clark Art Writing Prize. Molesworth is a trustee of the Fine Arts Work Center.
About Summer Salons
The Summer Salons events are designed to encourage a lively exchange of ideas by bringing together prominent figures from the arts and culture community to the Work Center. Scheduled over three Friday evenings from mid-May to late August, this series provides a unique opportunity for audiences in Provincetown and beyond to connect directly with some of today’s most influential creative minds. Set against the historic backdrop of the Stanley Kunitz Common Room, the Summer Salons invite these notable leaders to share their insights, experiences, and knowledge during an evening of conversation, learning, and community engagement. The result is a rare form of creative communion.
Proceeds from these paid events ensure that the Fine Arts Work Center is able to provide free arts and culture events for the Outer Cape Cod community year round.
