CURATOR TALK: MATTHEW NICHOLS

Ted Carey, 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘵 𝘏𝘪𝘭𝘭, 1982-85. Oil on panel, 18 x 26 ½ inches. Photo: Gary Mamay.
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$12.00 ($10.00 Members)

In conjunction with the exhibition, Ted Carey: Queer as Folk, guest curator Matthew Nichols will discuss the art historical and cultural contexts of Ted Carey’s life and work.  The queer content of Carey’s New York paintings and his tributes to other gay artists will also be examined.

This program, recommended for ages 18 & up, will take place in Guild Hall’s Boots Lamb Education Center.


Born and raised in Chester, Pennsylvania, Edward “Ted” Fawcett Carey (1932–1985) moved to New York in 1955. There he pursued a career in graphic design, forged a close friendship with Andy Warhol, and later developed a distinctive mode of painting informed by his keen interest in American folk art. While living between New York and East Hampton in the 1970s and 1980s, Carey produced a small yet compelling body of work that mimics aspects of vernacular painting, chronicles his life and relationships, and pictures facets of queer culture. Sharply observed and highly detailed, Carey’s faux-naïf paintings depict some of his favorite haunts in New York and celebrate the creative lives of other gay men.

Indebted to the foresight and generosity of Carey’s longtime partner, this exhibition draws from the Tito Spiga Bequest to Guild Hall. It surveys Ted Carey’s art for the first time since 1985, when an East Hampton gallery mounted a memorial show of his paintings in the days following his death from AIDS.

This exhibition is organized by Matthew Nichols, PhD, independent curator.

Galleries are open Friday to Monday, 12-5 PM. Museum admission is always free.

  • Matthew Nichols

    Matthew Nichols earned a B.A. from Vassar College and a Ph.D. from Rutgers University, where his dissertation examined the queer dimensions of Andy Warhol’s pre-Pop art and career. A specialist in modern and contemporary American art, he taught art history and connoisseurship at Christie’s Education for more than 16 years, where he led the school’s commitment to object-based learning. Matthew has also taught courses at Sotheby’s Institute of Art and The New School, where he was an adjunct assistant professor for many years. His critical writing has appeared in Art in America, Art on Paper, Photograph, and various exhibition catalogs. As an independent curator, he has organized thematic group exhibitions for The Arts Center at Duck Creek, Geary Contemporary, and other venues.

    Photo: Simón Espinal

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