ArtSeen
Loren Munk
Andre Zarre
Through June 27, 2002
Loren Munk is a painter who for quite some time has been engaged in a dialogue between the formal language of synthetic Cubism and casual imagery derived from popular culture. In the recent paintings, one is once again taken with his persistent gaiety of spirit.
Like a committed observer of city life, many of his subjects seem to weave together early American modernism and post-contemporary culture. Whether the references are drawn from Stuart Davis’s colonial cubism or new school graffiti, the overall compositions, with their elaborated handmade frames of cut glass mosaics, are constructed by a network of flat shapes and patterns. They are painted thickly and with intense contrasting color, mostly primary colors subordinated with variations of neutral tones. It’s not so much the imagery that is celebrated in Munk’s work, but the sheer physical joy of painting. The painterly surface, the musicality of the color, and the vitality of the form make one want to run up a few blocks to see Alfred Jensen’s spectacular exhibit at the Dia Foundation.
Integrated Sensibilities
In the back of the space of the gallery is a modest but beautiful exhibit of four Williamsburg painters: Geoff Davis, Chris Martin, Margrit Lewczuk, and Larry Mullins. Both Chris Martin and Larry Mullins are known for their large works. However the two paintings here in the show suggest the more sensuous and intimate side of their sensibilities. While Martin retains his deep interest in esoteric philosophy, Mullins continues to explore the visual repertoire of various forms of ornamental lettering and typefaces.
Geoff Davis is one of a few painters I know whose obsessive nature would dazzle anyone, especially those who are not familiar with his bizarre paintings. The highlight of the show is Margrit Lewczuk’s new work. With the more pared down, almost minimal approach towards primitive form, one witnesses here the remarkable effort of a veteran painter after a long period of gestation. Lewczuk lost most of her life’s work in a recent studio fire, and her new paintings represent an impressive rebirth.
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
How Can We Think of Art at a Time Like This?
By Sahar KhraibaniJUNE 2020 | ArtSeen
Co-curated by Barbara Pollack and Anne Verhallen as a platform for the exchange of art and ideas at a time of crisis, How Can We Think of Art at a Time Like This? is an exhibition without walls, created almost overnight to respond to museum and galleries’ closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a platform for free expression, inviting visitors to post responses on its Comments page.
Sarah Charlesworth: Image Language
By Robert C. MorganMAY 2020 | ArtSeen
The majority of what is presented at the Printed Matter exhibition is drawn from Charlesworth’s seemingly infinite collection of photographic imagery, taken from various sources in various working contexts. This exhibition represents the systemic basis of Charlesworth’s research and highlights the fundamental archival elements that define her life’s work.
Hernan Bas: Developing TiME LiFE
By Charlotte KentMAY 2020 | ArtSeen
Amidst the rise of online viewing rooms for shows we might not otherwise see, Lehmann Maupin made the decision to provide us backgrounds to shows we have. In Developing TiME LiFE, the gallery presents studies (available for sale) as well as information from Hernan Bas about the process for his most recent fall 2019 show.
Félix Vallotton: Painter of Disquiet
By Louis BlockDEC 19-JAN 20 | ArtSeen
The Metropolitan’s concise retrospective—an abbreviated version of what was shown at London’s Royal Academy—presents the printmaker and painter as a merciless interpreter of his environment and its characters.
