JOHN CHIAVERINA FOR ARTNEWS
When I arrived at the Nautilus Hotel Friday afternoon for Tyson and Scott Reeder’s poolside Beach Painting Club—which in the past has happened in locations like Far Rockaway and East Hampton—it was already raining. But that didn’t stop Tyson and the artist Jacob Goudreault from attempting to keep the party going.
The two artists were on a finely groomed lawn behind the hotel’s pool, engaged in what they called a “painting mirror exercise,” which is pretty much what you would expect it to be. “We tell each other what to paint, we’re trying to make the same painting,” Reeder explained before adding, “Your move, Jake.” Reeder and Goudreault couldn’t see each other’s painting. It was a little bit like a game of art Battleship. As this happened, rain fell onto their canvases, creating a cool, drippy effect—a true watercolor. (Goudreault’s previous art practices made him a natural for the environment. “Jacob used to make paintings in the shower,” Reeder explained to me.)
Scattered around the lawn (and eventually moved into a safer spot to protect them from the rain) were works from yesterday’s more fruitful chapter of the club, which happened on an actual beach. There were cool, casual paintings from Jess Fuller, Josh Reames, and Gina Beavers, among others (there was also a steel drum, perhaps a reference to Tyson’s performance project Cold Steel).
Beavers was in attendance Friday as well, but she didn’t get the memo that today’s edition was pool- and not beach-side. “I just started running toward the water and the people at the event set up there thought I was trying to run into the water and kill myself,” she joked. She was back for more because she left her car at the valet last night, but stuck around to drink some Bloody Marys with the Reeder crew.
A little bit later, the rain started to clear up and the brothers went back at it again. “Scott’s going to make his whole next show now, he decided,” Goudreault joked.