6/2/2020

Eye on Artists

Billy Sullivan

Billy has been sheltering in place at his home in East Hampton, New York since mid-March. He recounted how life totally changed in the space of a week. He had been on vacation in Mexico, then quickly left the City for the Hamptons once he returned to the States. He did resume online teaching at the School of Visual Arts and he remarked how much you can get done if people are willing, as he was able to help his students prepare their final projects in 6 hour long Zoom sessions.

In the Hamptons, Sullivan has created a daily routine where he walks his dog Red on the beach with Daisy and Amy, gets on Zoom calls with friends and works in his studio. He reports that it took him a while to get in a good place to work, but now he is working on a self portrait, a drawing and some portrait commissions.

The red pastel used for the hoodie in the work in progress seen above came from a shop in the Marais called Henri Roche. Billy explained that they were a gift from fellow artist Nicholas Party. Party and Sullivan were in his show entitled ‘Nicholas Party: Pastel’ with the Flag Art Foundation earlier this year.