Artists and writers have always been the cats and dogs of creative competition. The portrait or the pad, the pen or the paint.. Left and right brain powers have been warring for centuries. The first documented case of the riff detailed Renaissance sculptor, Donatello, when he teasingly pinned the equivalent of a"kick me" sign on author Leon Battista Alberti's cloak. It seems that ever since these two creative camps have fought for cerebral superiority. We students, patrons and stewards of the arts are reminded of this tension every year on a now-famous softball diamond in East Hampton, where the two ancient opponents bat off for reign of the Humanities.
Nearly 50 years ago, lovers and arty types used to casually congregate around Wilfrid Zogbaum in Springs, Long Island to play softball. This spawned into somewhere of a daytime tradition and the post war population of Springs grew into an eclectic, colorful community around the diamond. From early on, the baseball game always had a healthy representation of artists, as many artists migrated to Long Island after the war, but by the 1960's writers began to infiltrate the scene and "then there were rules," abstract artists Philip Pavia said of the day-- and so a rivalry was born. (enter doomsday riff, now)
The Game, as it's called, began as a charity first in 1968, as a way for the teeing literati to fund Vietnam War protesters. It has since expanded to a high-profile benefit ballgame, drawing the likes of celebrities each and every year. Players in the past have included Christie Brinkley, Chevy Chase, Kurt Vonnegut, Paul Simon, Jerry O'Connell, Ed Burns, Billy Baldwin, Rudy Giuliani and more.
As promised, artists and writers swing the bat for a good cause and this year is no exception. This year the proceeds of The Game will proudly benefit: East End Hospice, which provides an individualized plan of care for patients, regardless of their ability to pay, East Hampton Day Care Learning Center, which provides free services to single-parents, and The Phoenix House, which provides non-profit abuse treatment, prevention and intervention services. A swing and a linedrive for visual abstraction, a run for reason. ... battle of the brain is Saturday, August 20th at 2:00 p.m. Suggested donations are $10. Full details available here.
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