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Stephen Capozzoli a.k.a. Frankie Neptune
Artist/Writer/Cop
Part Two

BY ADAM STRAUS
PHOTO EDITOR: DEBBIE WELLS
Stephen Capozzoli, Above: 1463 Northville Turnpike, 2019; Veteran’s Day-Southold High School, 2018; and White WIndow, 2019

More recently, since retiring and living full time in Southold, Capozzoli has gone back to photographing his surroundings. The pictures transcend the often calendar beauty of the East End of Long Island, and somehow create a similar feeling to his images of the city. The pictures become almost immediately nostalgic, and while being documents of this area, they also often become documents of small town rural America in general. 
Stephen Capozzoli, Cheese Balls in Cigar Boxes, 2018

In 2018, Capozzoli/Frankie Neptune brought his experience as a cop and his wild sense of humor to bear and participated with reckless abandon in The Great American Cheese Ball Challenge, held at Glen Hansen Studio in Southold. This exhibition was 19 artist’s responses to a large container of Utz cheeseballs and will possibly go down in history as what truly transformed the art world on the North Fork of Long Island. In addition to the photograph, he also contributed a video of bowling, using his fingers, small bowling pins, and cheese balls that caused ruckus outbreaks of laughter from many a viewer.
Capozzoli has been a regular contributor to all four exhibitions at Glen Hansen Studio as well as the exhibition Detour which Glen Hansen and I curated for the East End Arts Council in 2019.
A one person exhibition of Capozzoli’s photographs and videos called Frankie Says was also shown at the East End Arts Council Main Gallery in 2019.

Two of his photographs (see below) were also included in theThe Seasons exhibition curated by Franklin Hill Perrell and Debbie Wells for the Nassau County Museum of Art (see photo) last year.
Frankie Neptune, Market scene/produce stall with autumnal vegetables, 1974, photo on aluminum, 16x24 in.     
Frankie Neptune, Burning leaf pile - Southold, NY,
photo on aluminum, 16 x 24 in.        
I think the take away from this artist is the idea of leaving yourself open to many different experiences and to perhaps not take oneself too seriously, since you could, as Frankie Neptune would say, go DOA on any given day. That the idea of art exists in a very big tent and that creativity comes from first being fascinated, excited, and taking from whatever it is that you are doing. 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adam Straus is known for contemporary landscape paintings which often deal with man’s effect on and presence in the natural world. His work is represented by Nohra Haime Gallery in New York City. More on Straus can be seen at nohrahaime.com or adamstraus.net. He considers himself a friend of Frankie Neptune. They differ a great deal politically and almost constantly argue without convincing each other of anything. They will very possibly continue to do this until one of them dies.
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