Bridgehampton artist Jim Gingerich has been widely exhibited throughout the United States at major galleries and museums over the past three decades. “Nobody moves a brush quite like Jim Gingerich,” says art critic Renee Dahl. “Each mark, whether used to create a radiant sky or define a fleeting shadow, harnesses an incredible energy.”

His list of collectors includes: Eric Clapton, Robert DeNiro, Roy Scheider, and Kurt Vonnegut, and…..my husband! Dr. Kot shares, “My favorite Jim Gingerich painting is a commissioned oil painting of my 1887 Victorian farmhouse [below]. This dynamic, flowing painting captured the essence of the farmhouse. It depicted the fading shingles, the wrap around porch with its hanging baskets, climbing roses, and perennial gardens. The painting ‘breathes’, as do all of Jim’s paintings.”

A Gingerich painting hangs alongside Jackson Pollock, Jasper Johns, Willem De Kooning, and Robert Rauschenberg in the Yale University Art Gallery, and his work is included with artists such as Joseph Cornell, Rene Magritte, Francis Bacon, and Claude Monet in another collection.

Celebrating the beautiful beaches and bucolic vistas of the Hamptons, Jim’s open air landscapes integrate a reverence for his natural surroundings, often reflecting his love of the ocean shoreline. Gingerich says, “I swim a half mile in the sea almost every day for the medicinal benefits of joining the largest living organism on earth. I always feel better when I get out of the water than when I go in.”

His lifelong interest in film and cinematic lighting can be seen over the years in his figurative paintings. A sense of aliveness springs off these canvases. Animation and dynamic gestures reveal deep psychological narratives. The people in his paintings move. And they tell stories, yet ultimately, his figurative work poses more questions than it answers.

Constantly seeking new inspiration and challenges, Gingerich was drawn recently to “the narrative and emotional possibilities of the novel.” Of his upcoming graphic novel, Eros Entangled, Gingerich says, “My intention was to bring a fine artist’s sensibility to both the images and the text which sets the work apart from ordinary comic books. It’s more of a thinking man’s graphic novel–a graphic novel for grown ups.” Over 500 pastels and 30 paintings form the illustrations for Eros Entangled.

Jim shares the back story of EROS ENTANGLED with KDHamptons below… a thrilling mystery trip from the prehistoric, art filled caves at Lascaux, France to the 2001 glitzy Manhattan art world and pristine beaches of the Hamptons:

“Charlie Bodett, a New York artist living in a seaside Hamptons studio becomes entangled in a mythical rivalry between two ancient deities, Eros and Thanatos. Two drives collide within the human psyche and the duality of human nature evolved from two basic instincts: Love and Death–Eros and Thanatos.

Eros: the drive for love, sexuality and other creative, life affirming, survival drives.

Thanatos: the drive toward aggression, decay, sadism, destruction, violence, and death.

With the help of Eros’ heady potion, Charlie finds love with a beautiful dancer, Nora. But at every turn, Thanatos thwarts their erotic union.

In a stirring journey of the human heart, where the power of belief and thirst for self discovery drive the characters to seek existential answers concerning love and loss, hopes are lost and found and lives transformed forever.

Gingerich has crafted a love story conflicted by an ancient blood rivalry where Charlie and Nora are lured into a territory so dangerous, they must fight for what makes us truly human. They long for healing and redemption as they face wrenching challenges of the heart in the battle between love and death.

Will love conquer death or will death snuff love?

**Find out how the story ends, and learn more about the artist, please visit Jim’s website at: http://www.jimgingerich.com