GARY KOMARIN | From the Vessel Series

For his seventh Robischon Gallery solo exhibition, Gary Komarin offers paintings on paper from his ongoing “Vessel” series, along with two, oil on canvas works created in the artist’s well-recognized intuitive abstract approach. Komarin’s mentor, artist Philip Guston wrote supportively about Komarin’s work as, “plastic, sensitive and serious," stating, “Komarin’s feeling for line, space and form comprises an innate sense of structure.” Additionally, engaged titles such as Boo Radley which invokes the Harper Lee character from ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,” take the viewer into a deeper experience within the artist’s intent. Of the “Vessel” paintings, Komarin notes the importance and ubiquity of the object throughout history by saying, “All cultures have had to find ways to transport water and other fluids from one location to another–water, milk, wine, blood – for practical and ceremonial reasons. I have long been fascinated by the structures and shapes of these traditional objects, particularly those of the most humble and demure variety. An early Egyptian, Mayan or Greek vessel has great poise and stature. Painting vessels is an activity that has allowed me a great deal of playful variation.” 

Gary Komarin has a BA in English Literature from Albany State University and an MFA in painting from Boston University, along with a graduate teaching fellowship with artist Philip Guston, and additional studies at the Brooklyn Museum School and the New York Studio School. Awarded the prestigious Joan Mitchell Prize in painting, Komarin has also received the Edward Albee Foundation Fellowship in Painting, the Elizabeth Foundation Prize in Painting, the Benjamin Altman Prize in Painting from the National Academy of Design Museum and The New York Foundation of the Arts Grant in Painting. His work can be found in numerous permanent collections including the Galleria Nazionale d’ Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy; Denver Art Museum, Denver; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The Crocker Museum, Sacramento; MAMBO, Bogota; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego; The Yoshii Foundation, Tokyo; Musée Kiyoharu Shirakaba, Japan; Musée d’Art Classique de Mougins, Mougins; Museum of Contemporary Art Corpus Christi, Texas; Boise Art Museum, Idaho; The Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey; Boston University Museum of Fine Arts; The Zimmereli Museum; The Noyes Museum; The Morris Museum; The Newark Museum; The Microsoft Corporation, Gallery Proarta, Zurich; Blount International, Atlanta; The United Bank of Houston; The Hyatt Corporation; American Airlines, and more. Komarin maintains an expansive worldwide exhibition schedule with many solo exhibitions in Zurich and Basel, Switzerland; London, England; Kiyoharu, Japan; Dubai; United Arab Emirates and New York, among others. Komarin is featured in the documentary film entitled The Painter’s Path as well as the documentary film, Still, which relates Clyfford Still’s contribution to American art and the influence of Abstract Expressionism on generations of distinguished artists. Komarin’s work has been published in the New York Times, Art in America and Arts Magazine, among others.