{{Short description|American artist (born 1951)}} {{Infobox artist | name = Gary Komarin | image = Gary Komarin in his Roxbury CT studio.jpg | image_size = 220 px | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age |1951|9|14}}<ref name="Gary Komarin's Official Website">{{cite web |last1=Komarin |first1=Gary |title=Gary Komarin's Official Website |url=https://garykomarin.com/gary-komarin-cv |website=garykomarin.com |publisher=Gary Komarin |access-date=4 November 2024}}</ref> | birth_place = New York City, New York | death_date = | death_place = | known_for = Painting | movement = Post-painterly Abstraction | patrons = | awards = 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, the New York Prize in Painting and the Benjamin Altman Prize from the National Academy of Design Museum, New York. }} thumb|Gary Komarin painting in his Roxbury CT studio thumb|''The Caretaker's Cottage'', 2014, oil on canvas, 72" × 62" <!-- This painting is Komarin's "The Caretaker's Cottage", not "Don't Tell Lizzie Borden", as titled on the image's description page. -->|239x239px
'''Gary Komarin''' (born September 14, 1951) is an American artist known for his abstract work. His art is characterized by spontaneous mark-making, figuration, and painterly expression. Komarin's work is associated with post-painterly abstraction.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Unraveling the Signified from the Signifier |url=https://sunvalleymag.com/articles/unraveling-the-signified-from-the-signifier/ |access-date=2025-09-16 |website=Sun Valley Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Early life and education==
Gary Komarin was born in New York City in 1951, the son of a Czech architect and an Austrian writer. He studied at Albany State University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in Art and English Literature. After completing his undergraduate studies, Komarin attended Boston University, where he received a master's degree with a focus on fine arts.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=2000-02-27 |title=ART; Paintings Do the Talking, Without Too Many Specifics (Published 2000) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/27/nyregion/art-paintings-do-the-talking-without-too-many-specifics.html |access-date=2025-09-16 |language=en}}</ref> While at Boston University, he studied under artist Philip Guston and held a year-long graduate teaching fellowship, which concluded in 1977.<ref name="Gary Komarin's Official Website">{{cite web |last1=Komarin |first1=Gary |title=Gary Komarin's Official Website |url=https://garykomarin.com/gary-komarin-cv |website=garykomarin.com |publisher=Gary Komarin |access-date=4 November 2024}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2025-09-16 |title=Gary Komarin Artist Profile |url=https://www.hobancf.or.kr/exhibition/artist_view?seq=206 |website=Hoban}}</ref>
==Career and work==
Komarin's work is associated with post-painterly abstraction and abstract expressionism.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Gary Komarin, Paintings and Works on Paper |url=http://www.artfixdaily.com/calendar/details/9368-g-a-r-y-k-o-m-a-r-i-n-paintings-and-works-on-paper |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150507032927/http://www.artfixdaily.com/calendar/details/9368-g-a-r-y-k-o-m-a-r-i-n-paintings-and-works-on-paper |archive-date=2015-05-07 |access-date=2025-09-16 |website=ArtfixDaily |language=en}}</ref> He often uses unconventional materials such as drop cloths, industrial canvas tarps, and brown paper bags instead of traditional artist canvases. His painting technique includes mixing water-based house paint with spackle and water to create hybrid matte colors, alongside other mixed media materials. In a 2004 interview with ''The New York Times'', Komarin was quoted as saying, "If I were stuck in the studio with just brown and white paint and a box of dried oatmeal, I'd figure out something I could do with them."<ref name=":1" />
Describing Komarin's process in her essay for the 2012 catalog "The Road to Dialoro", Carol Diehl writes:<blockquote>"For most artists there is no eureka moment; instead ideas develop through practice and over time, one thing leading to the next, and Gary Komarin is particularly sensitive to this intuitive process. If his marks appear awkward and childlike, it's because he has learned over the years how to turn off his internal critic and work from a place of detachment that allows for freshness, newness, and authenticity. Komarin has built into his working method ways of keeping himself from over-thinking or becoming too precious — techniques that allow him to get out of the way and almost let the painting paint itself."<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Seaman |first=Anna |date=2014-06-09 |title=American painter Gary Komarin's first solo show in the region is at Dubai's Cuadro |url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/art/american-painter-gary-komarin-s-first-solo-show-in-the-region-is-at-dubai-s-cuadro-1.576365 |access-date=2022-08-22 |website=The National |language=en}}</ref></blockquote>
== Selected exhibitions == As of 2024, Komarin has exhibited internationally, with shows in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Notable exhibitions include a 2008 solo museum exhibition of large-scale canvases, ''Moon Flows like a Willow'', at the Musée Kiyoharu Shirakaba in Japan, organized by the Yoshii Foundation in Tokyo, along with galleries in New York, Tokyo, and Paris.<ref>{{Cite web |title=清春芸術村｜Kiyoharu Art Colony |url=https://www.kiyoharu-art.com/ |access-date=2025-06-28 |website=清春芸術村｜Kiyoharu Art Colony |language=ja}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=neilson gallery |url=https://www.neilsongallery.com/Gary_Komarin/obra%20eng.htm |access-date=2025-09-16 |website=www.neilsongallery.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Johnson Lowe Gallery |url=https://www.johnsonlowe.com/artists/37-gary-komarin/ |access-date=2023-03-03 |website=Johnson Lowe Gallery |language=en}}</ref> He participated in a four-person exhibition at McEnroe Gallery, 41 Greene Street, in New York alongside Jean-Michel Basquiat, Philip Guston, and Bill Traylor, in 1996.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gary Komarin |url=https://tourretteparis.com/pages/gary-komarin |access-date=2025-09-09 |website=Tourrette |language=fr}}</ref> He has also been featured alongside Robert Motherwell and Larry Poons in a 2012 exhibition essay ''States of Feeling'' written by John Daly.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gary Komarin, Robert Motherwell, Larry Poons: States of Feeling, 2012 |url=https://hillsborofineart.com/product/gary-komarin-robert-motherwell-larry-poons-states-of-feeling-2012/ |access-date=2025-09-17 |website=Hillsboro Fine Art |language=en-US}}</ref>
In 2008, Komarin exhibited a large cake painting at the Katonah Museum of Art in Katonah, New York. This catalog exhibition was titled: ‘Here's the Thing: The Single Object Still Life,” curated by Robert Cottingham. Komarin's work was shown alongside works by Andy Warhol, Christo, Claes Oldenburg, Richard Diebenkorn, Philip Guston, and others. Komarin's work has also been included in curated group shows in New York, Dubai, and Zurich alongside works by Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Jeff Koons, Yves Klein, and Joan Miró. Komarin has also exhibited in catalog exhibitions in New York, Bogota, Zurich, Dubai, Paris, Palm Beach, Houston, San Francisco, Denver, Assisi, and London in the past decade.
In 2020, Komarin had a solo exhibition at the Dado Museum in Seoul, Korea. This followed a solo exhibition at the Azjuelo Museum and inclusion in an exhibition titled "Kinesis" at the Neon Gallery in London.
==Selected collections== Komarin's work is held in various public and private collections globally. These include museums such as the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The Museum South Texas, Corpus Christi; the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego; the Denver Art Museum; The Crocker Museum of Art, Sacramento; Museum of Modern Art, Bogota; the Montclair Art Museum; the Newark Museum; the Boise Art Museum; the Zimmerli Museum; the Arkansas Museum of Contemporary Art; Boston University Museum of Fine Arts; the Yoshii Foundation, Tokyo; the Musee Kiyoharu Shirakaba, Japan; and the Musee Mougins, France.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Komarin |first1=Gary |title=Gary Komarin's Official Website |url=https://garykomarin.com/gary-komarin-cv |access-date=4 November 2024 |website=garykomarin.com |publisher=Gary Komarin}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Gary Komarin |url=https://www.rogallery.com/artists/gary-komarin/?page=1 |access-date=2025-09-16 |website=RoGallery |language=en-US}}</ref>
Corporate collections holding his work include Microsoft Corporation, Blount International, the United Bank of Houston, United Airlines, the Hyatt Corporation, AT&T, and American Airlines.
==Awards and recognition==
Komarin has received several awards, fellowships, and grants during his career. While studying at Boston University from 1975 to 1977 he completed a one year long graduate teaching fellowship under Philip Guston.<ref name=":2" /> In 1999, he received the Painters and Sculptors Grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation for his submission of his work including ''Trapeze'', ''Vessel, Siwah'', ''Incident at Echo Lake'', and ''The Egyptian Hat Trick.''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gary Komarin |url=https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/gary-komarin |access-date=2025-09-16 |website=Joan Mitchell Foundation |language=en}}</ref> The Edward T. Albee Foundation chose him as an Albee Fellow in 2000 as a part of ''The Barn'' program.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Former Fellows 2000 |url=https://www.albeefoundation.org/former-fellows-2000.html |access-date=2025-09-16 |website=The Edward F. Albee Foundation |language=en}}</ref>
==Publications and media coverage==
Komarin has been interviewed and featured in many different publications including The New York Times,<ref name=":1" /> Art in America,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Reviews |url=https://caroldiehl.com/WRITINGS/Writing_reviews/reviews.htm |access-date=2025-09-17 |website=caroldiehl.com}}</ref> The San Francisco Chronicle,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Baker |first=Kenneth |date=2007-06-23 |title=Connect the dots, and you'll get a sense of the bigger picture |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/Connect-the-dots-and-you-ll-get-a-sense-of-the-2585040.php |access-date=2025-09-16 |website=San Francisco Chronicle}}</ref> Arts Magazine,<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/sim_arts-magazine_1979-10_54_2 |title=Arts Magazine 1979-10: Vol 54 Iss 2 |date=October 1979 |publisher=Arts Communications Group, L.P. |others=Internet Archive |language=en}}</ref> and L’Officiel Austria<ref>{{Cite web |title=L'Officiel {{!}} Work that speaks to All: In talk with Gary Komarin |url=https://www.johnsonlowe.com/news/17-l-officiel-work-that-speaks-to-all-in-by-katerina-leroy/ |access-date=2025-11-22 |website=Johnson Lowe Gallery |language=en}}</ref>
==Influences==
Komarin has cited the New York School, and especially his teacher Philip Guston at Boston University, as major influences on his artistic development. According to a ''New York Times'' article by Barry Schwabsky, “Guston's lesson in cultivating the unknown has clearly stuck with Mr. Komarin. And on a more superficial level, the teacher's peculiar sense of form can also still be traced in his former student's work – in the way Mr. Komarins' bulbous forms can seem to echo, in an abstract way, the cigars, cyclopean heads, and naked light bulbs in Guston's paintings.”<ref name=":1" />
== Exhibitions == {| class="wikitable" !Year !Exhibition !Location |- |2025 |''The Geometry of Love'', Mariam Diehl Gallery |Jackson, Wyoming |- |2025 |''Arc & Iliad'', Blond Contemporary Gallery |London, England |- |2025 |''The Open Palm of Desire'', Graham Taylor Fine Arts |Johannesburg, South Africa |- |2025 |''A Suite of Blue Sea'', Gallerie Baobob |Bogota, Colombia |- |2024 |''Landscape with a Cup'', Azulejo Gallery |Seoul, Korea |- |2023 and 2024 |Blond Contemporary |London |- |2023 |Gail Severn Gallery |Sun Valley Idaho |- |2023 |Laura Rathe Gallery |Houston, TX |- |October/December 2022 |''Punch Drunk Love'', Azujelo Gallery |Seoul, South Korea |- |October/November 2022 |''The Search for Pure Meaning'', Azujelo Gallery |Seoul, South Korea |- |August 2022 |''Art Of Paper'', Laura Rathe Fine Art |Houston, Texas |- |July 2022 |''The Open Palm of Desire'', New Works on Canvas and Paper, Tsivikros Shake Gallery |London, UK |- |June/July 2022 |''Surreal Summer'', Madelyn Jordan Gallery |New York, NY |- |2020 |''Kinesis'', Neon Gallery. Curated by Christopher Shake. |London, UK |- |2012 |Pavillon des Art et du Design with Galerie Jean-Francois Cazeau |Paris, France |- |2012 |Palm Springs Fine Art Fair with Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery |Palm Springs, California |- |2011 |Contemporary and Modern Masters, Jean-Francois Cazeau |Paris, France |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *Alexander, Steven. (Idaho, 2007). "Zone of Continuity" essay. Gail Severn Gallery Catalog, "Mexican Thoughts." *Anonymous. (Japan, 2008). Untitled Essay. Foundation Musee Kiyoharu Shirakaba Catalog, "Moon Flows Like a Willow." *Diehl, Carol. (Houston, 2008). "The Mind and the Heart" essay. Gremillion & Co. Fine Art, Inc. Catalog, "Incident at Osbourne Grove." *Dobbins, Hamlet. (Zurich, 2003). Untitled Essay. Galerie Proarta Catalog, "Moon Flows Like a Willow." *Heller, J K. (Idaho, 2008). Untitled Essay. Gail Severn Gallery Catalog, "Blue Scrubbed White." *Isak, Helga. (Zurich, 2006). "Inner Expressions essay. Galerie Proarta Catalog, Untitled. *Komarin, Gary. (New York, 2011). Personal catalog, "Short Cakes/Stacked Cakes." *Magnaguagno, Guido. (Zurich, 2011). "Don't Get The Blues" essay. Galerie Proarta Catalog, "Don't Get The Blues." *Peters, Lisa, N. (New York, 2009). Untitled Essay. Spanierman Gallery Catalog, "Leandro and Luz." *Salk, Susanna. (Idaho, 2011). Q&A with Gary Komarin. Gail Severn Gallery Catalog, "She Watched the Night Revealing." *Schwabsky, Barry. (London, 2004). "When Paintings Hang Fire" essay. Tim Jeffries Catalog, "The Disappointed Mistress." *Schwabsky, Barry. (Dubai, 2010). "Finding the Edges" essay. Cuadro Fine Art Gallery Catalog, "Finding the Edges." *Waltemath, John. (London, 2006). "The Bourdon Gauge" essay. The Fine Art Society Catalog, "The Bourdon Gauge."
==External links== *[http://www.garykomarin.com/ Official Website]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Komarin, Gary}} Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:Artists from New York City