The Hamptons have always been a haven for artist couples, from legendary Abstract Expressionists to current pillars like Eddie Martinez and Sam Moyer. But there's one duo out here-Gwen O'Neil and Tommy May-that uses the Long Island landscape not only as muse but as joint studio space. Together, they work en plein air, embracing the magic of mid-night sprinklers and bleachy East End sunlight.
O'Neil grew up in Northwest Woods after her parents relocated from Manhattan post-9/11 when she was 10, and her intensely colored, swirling, and stippled paintings are a bold spin on pointillism. Each summer, she and May return to her childhood backyard, where they prepare for their fall exhibitions. In recent years, the formerly Los Angeles-based couple more permanently reembraced the East Coast, moving their artist-run space Blue Door Gallery to Brooklyn's Boerum Hill in 2025.
Their fall shows will be displayed in cities by the sea. In October, O'Neil will debut a new body of work at Almine Rech's Monte Carlo location. And May, who deploys a wet-on-wet method, will present a series of brilliantly saturated coastal abstractions at Megan Mulrooney in LA this September. The pair sat down with CULTURED to reflect on 12 summers spent painting outside in East Hampton.
When did you start using the outdoors as your summer studio?
Gwen O'Neil: Tommy and I met at the Savannah College of Art and Design, where we were both studying photography. Our first summer together, Tommy came out and visited me at my parents' house here. He had started painting at that time. There was no studio, so he had to do it outside. Watching Tommy paint in the Hamptons got me to start painting.
Tommy May: That first summer I visited her in 2014, it was like, "Oh God, why does Gwen's new boyfriend want to paint in our house?" So I would lean paintings against a tree, towards the back of the deck. After I went home, Gwen started sending me photos of all the canvases that I had left behind, and she had started staining them with the hose and pigments.
What are you both painting this summer in East Hampton for your upcoming shows?
O'Neil: In one of my first LA shows, I studied topographical maps of [the city], where we lived for 10 years. Monte Carlo is similar-a city on a hill and on the water. Of course, Formula 1 has such a big presence in Monaco. I started to think about the landscape and cars. For my upcoming show at Almine Rech's location there this October, I'm looking at a lot of maps of Monaco and how the roads weave in and out of the hills and canyons. This exhibition also marks a departure from the darker stains I use and embraces a lighter atmosphere in color and density.
May: My show in September with Megan Mulrooney is inspired by an experience I had last summer watching the sunrise in the middle of the ocean with my dad, who is a fisherman. We go way out to the canyons to chase tuna about a hundred miles offshore of Martha's Vineyard. Out here, Gwen's dad studies architecture, and her mom is an interior designer, so the house is a really creative place. We are cooking incredible meals on the deck with our paintings scattered everywhere. There's Led Zeppelin blasting.
