Gary Komarin

GARY KOMARIN THE VICOMTE and SOME OF HIS PARTS September 6 - October 20, 2018 GARY KOMARIN THE VICOMTE and SOME OF HIS PARTS September 6 - October 20, 2018 37 Popham Rd. Scarsdale NY, 10583 (914) 723-8738 MadelynJordonFineArt.com GARY KOMARIN THE VICOMTE and SOME OF HIS PARTS September 6 - October 20, 2018 MJFA is delighted to present a second solo exhibition of paintings and works on paper by American artist GARY KOMARIN. The exhibition, entitled THE VICOMTE AND SOME OF HIS PARTS, will be on view from September 6 - October 20, 2018. Included in the exhibition are seven oil paintings and four works on paper all completed in the past year. Komarin is internationally recognized as a risk taker of contemporary painterly abstraction. An artist who has forged a singular style over 30 years of painting, Komarin’s free- wheeling works have a deep connection to Color Field and Ab-Ex painting, and the current trend of Provisional painting. Utilizing unconventional materials, such as house paint, spackle, and industrial canvas tarps, Komarin’s roughly textured, intuitive paintings feature an assortment of oddly shaped forms and iconography – that may or may not appear recognizable – on large flat fields of solid color. He states “I think of my paintings as pre- linguistic. Forms travel and co-mingle through time and space, free from the tyranny of order and reason.” Komarin has long been associated with the 20th abstract painter Philip Guston, with whom Komarin studied and was mentored at Boston University in the 1970’s. The artist, who was awarded a Graduate Teaching Fellowship, took to heart Guston’s philosophy of “painting what you don’t know.” As stated by New York Times art critic, Barry Schwabsky “Guston’s lesson in cultivating the unknown and the teacher’s peculiar sense of form can also be traced in his former student’s work.” Gary Komarin’s large-scale paintings hover in a kind of dream-like metaphysics. When beginning a new work, the artist starts with mark making the canvas with a crayon, pencil, or charcoal, as a way to liberate and open up the canvas. He then pours a variety of paints, overlaying one contrasting patchwork of color over another, and responding instinctually to whatever is being poured or moved around. With no thought or intention, the canvas starts to have a voice as he marries color with drawing. Whimsical, half-formed objects are inserted throughout his compositions, sometimes upside down or half seen at the edge of the canvas. The resultant image is one that appears familiar but resists recognition, akin to a child’s fantastical drawing. The expansive space between the ambiguous motifs is as equally important, allowing the eye to move seamlessly from one amorphous shape to another. Wigs and Cakes are among Komarin’s most recognizable idiosyncratic images, often turning up in his paintings. The painting Still Life with the French Wig feature three faceless characters donning wigs of braids and tangled tresses. As stated by the artist, the idea of the wig is to cover up, accentuate, and/or adorn and these qualities relate closely to his process of making a painting. Similarly, in new works on paper, Komarin presents a single oddly shaped cake in an opposing field of color—as homage to his mother, a Viennese baker of less than perfect, but love infused cakes throughout his youth. As a literature major in college, Komarin’s love of words are evident in his painting titles. Taking poetic license, they are meant to spark imagination and rarely explain the work. The Ballad of Leandro and Luz, The Disappointed Mistress No. 9, and Swiss Positions are a few of the enigmatic titles that appeal to Komarin simply for its phonetics and lilt. At first view, Komarin’s paintings are not easy to digest as there is no single narrative or underlying message, except for the process of painting. But with each examination, the visceral desire for understanding is triggered and one cannot simply walk away. ABOUT GARY KOMARIN Born and raised in New York City, Gary Komarin attended Albany State University and Boston University. In 1996, Komarin was included in a pivotal exhibition at 41 Greene Street, New York, NY where his work was shown with the paintings of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Philip Guston and Bill Traylor. In 2008, he had a solo museum exhibition at the Musee Kiyoharu Shirakaba in Japan. Komarin has been shown throughout the United States and abroad, and his work is included in many noted museum collections including the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The Menil Collection, Houston; the Denver Art Museum, the Museum South Texas, Corpus Christi; the Montclair Air Museum and the Zimmerli Museum, both in New Jersey; Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá, Columbia; and the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, Italy. Gary Komarin has been honored with the Joan Mitchell Prize in Painting, the New York Foundation for the Arts Grant in Painting, the Edward Albee Foundation Fellowship in Painting, the Elizabeth Foundation, New York Prize in Painting and the Benjamin Altman Prize from the National Academy of Design Museum, New York. Articles and reviews of Komarin's work have appeared in Architectural Digest, the New York Times, Arts Magazine, and Art in America, among others. The Vicomte and Some of His Parts, 2018 Mixed media on canvas 72 x 48.5 in. The Disappointed Mistress No. 9, 2017-18 Mixed media on canvas 72 x 48 in. The Ballad of Leandro and Luz, 2018 Mixed media on canvas 48 x 72 in. Still Life with the French Wig, 2018 Mixed media on canvas 42 x 48 in. Swiss Positions, 2018 Mixed media on canvas 42 x 48 in. The Spanish Bride, 2018 Mixed media on canvas 44 x 38.25 in. St. Jacques, 2018 Mixed media on canvas 36 x 24 in. Cake (Red on Crème), 2016 Mixed media on paper bags 50 x 47.5 in. Cake (Blue on Crème and White), 2017 Mixed media on paper 22.25 x 30 in. Cake (Crème on Lime), Dyptich, 2018 Mixed media on paper 22.25 x 30 in. Cake (Orange and Chocolate on Crème), 2017 Mixed media on paper 22.25 x 30 in. Cake 3, 2014 Mixed media on paper 22 x 12 in. ADDITIONAL WORKS Cake (Lime on White), 2017 Mixed media on paper bags 34 x 23.75 x in. Cake (Raspberry on White),2017 Mixed media on paper bags 33.25 x 24 x in. Cake (Blue on Crème), 2014 Mixed media on paper bags 50 x 23.75 x in. EXHIBITION CHECK LIST 1. The Vicomte and Some of His Parts, 2018 Mixed media on canvas, 72 x 48.5 in. $36,000 2. The Disappointed Mistress No. 9, 2017-18 Mixed media on canvas 72 x 48 in. $36,000 3. The Ballad of Leandro and Luz, 2018 Mixed media on canvas 48 x 72 in. $36,000 4. Still Life with the French Wig, 2018 Mixed media on canvas 42 x 48 in. $24,000 5. Swiss Positions, 2018 Mixed media on canvas 42 x 48 in. $24,000 6. The Spanish Bride, 2018 Mixed media on canvas 44 x 38.25 in. $20,000 7. St. Jacques, 2018 Mixed media on canvas 36 x 24 in. $16,000 8. Cake (Red on Crème), 2016 Mixed media on paper bags 50 x 47.5 in. $32,000 9. Cake (Blue on Crème and White), 2017 Mixed media on paper 22.25 x 30 in. $8,000 10. Cake (Crème on Lime), Dyptich, 2018 Mixed media on paper 22.25 x 30 in. $8,000 11. Cake (Orange and Chocolate on Crème), 2017 Mixed media on paper 22.25 x 30 in. $8,000 12. Cake 3, 2014 Mixed media on paper 22 x 12 in. $3,400 13. Cake (Lime on White), 2017 Mixed media on paper bags 34 x 23.75 x in. $8,000 14. Cake (Raspberry on White),2017 Mixed media on paper bags 33.25 x 24 x in. $8,000 15. Cake (Blue on Crème), 2014 Mixed media on paper bags 50 x 23.75 x in. $15,000 GARY KOMARIN Born 1951, New York, NY EDUCATION 1975-77 Boston University, MFA in Painting 1975 Brooklyn Museum School New York Studio School 1973 Albany State University, BA in Art and English Literature SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2018 The Vicomte and Some of His Parts, Madelyn Jordon Gallery, Scarsdale, NY Moon Flows Like A Willow, Robischon Gallery, Denver, CO The Mother Tongue, Kathy Dimmit Fine Arts, Houston, TX 2017 Swimming Pink, Julie Nester Gallery, Park City, UT 2016 Mr. Blonde, Robischon Gallery, Denver, CO Gary Komarin, The First Green Rushing, Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID 2015 A Wilder Blue, Mark Borghii Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY Don’t Tell Lizzie Borden, Gallerie Design -e- Space, Paris, France Incident at Osboiurne Grove, Gallerie Baobob, Bogota, Columbia East Meets West, Gallery 88, Seoul Korea New Paintings and Works on Paper, Madelyn Jordon Gallery, New York Now That I Have Your Face By Heart, Helac Fine Art, New York, NY Vessels, Gary Komarin, Mayflower Grace Spa, Washington, CT 2014 Gary Komarin, Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID Gary Komarin Part II, Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID From 24 Vessels at Kit Mandor, Musee D’Art Classique de Mougins, France Farmhouse Logic, Morrison Gallery, Kent, CT Durango, Mini Gallery, Assisi, Italy Michael Dunev Project, Costa Brava, Spain The Road So Bare and White, Cuadro Gallery, Dubai Art Trail, Seoul, Korea 2013 Jack’s Bridge, Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID In Which the Baron Fallow, Vigo Gallery, London, England Annual Galleries, Solo Exhibition, Paris, France Galerie Proarta, Arp, Motherwell, Komarin and Heilman, Zurich, Switzerland Elins Eagles Smith Gallery, Tapping Reeve, San Francisco, California Gremillion and Co.

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