LOREN MUNK (1951 - )    

    
Loren Munk originally hails from the great American West. He has fond memories of his birthplace, Salt Lake City, Utah. SLC provided an idyllic environment with natural splendors and good friends always close at hand. At age eleven Loren, his Mother and two brothers moved north to Pocatello, Idaho. Here Loren received much of his education and held a variety of jobs. Among his varied activities he: moved irrigation pipe, operated the studio camera for the evening television news, and illustrated courtroom scenes for the media.

In retrospect, two vocations were to have particular importance with regard to Loren's developing esthetic. In the early seventies Loren designed and fabricated metalwork using gold, silver and precious and semi-precious stones. From 1976-1978 Munk was a creative force in the printshop at Idaho State University at which time he produced over 60 unique silkscreen poster designs.

Searching for an education beyond academics, Loren traveled to Central America after his freshman year at Idaho State University. Realizing that fulfilling his dream to paint would require direct contact with the works of the masters, Loren enlisted in the U.S. Army, 1972-1975. He trained as a medic and served two and half years in Germany. His spare time was well spent, traveling to museums and painting in a makeshift studio in his barracks.

Upon leaving the Army Loren reestablished a studio in Pocatello and continued to study and work at Idaho State. In 1979, with the help of a small inheritance from his father, Loren moved to New York City and attended classes at the Art Students League on the GI Bill, and later as a scholarship recipient. Hell's Kitchen provided a colorful home base and a jarring introduction to city life. When not studying at the ASL Loren took an interest in the local architecture, especially the classic mirror-laden movie theatres around Times Square. The cross pollination of the scenes from the street and the ambiance of the movie house decor eventually made its way into his paintings.

In 1981 Loren's work debuted in SoHo with a double show at J. Fields Gallery and Gabrielle Bryers. At about this time he moved his studio to Red Hook, Brooklyn where he currently resides with his wife, also a painter, and two sons.

Loren has established a truly international career. In addition to exhibiting in Brazil, France, Germany and the United States, Munk has received national and overseas public and private commissions. He is well represented in important collections throughout Europe, South and North America and the Middle East.

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Born:  Salt Lake City, Utah, 1951
EDUCATION:

Art Students League, New York City, 1979
University of Maryland at Ramstein, West Germany, 1973-75
Idaho State University) Pocatello, Idaho, 1969-72

ONE-PERSON EXHIBITIONS:
• 1985
  • ARCA, Marseille, France
  • Gabrielle Bryers Gallery, New York City
• 1984
  • Gabrielle Bryers Gallery, New York City
• 1983
  • Gabrielle Bryers Gallery, New York City
• 1981
  • "Paintings for the New Empire," J. Fields Gallery, NYC
  • "Paintings for the New Empire," Gabrielle Bryers Gallery, NYC

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
• 1985
  • "New York '85" (with Jasper Johns, Elsworth Kelly, Christo, David Salle, J.M. Basquiat, Kenny Sharf, Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Longo and others), ARCA, Marseille Gabrielle Bryers Gallery, New York City
  • "La fin du siecle est pour demain," Yvon Lambert Gallery, Paris
• 1984
  • "Collaborative Show" (with Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jon Borofsky, Rainer Gross, Keith Haring, Robert Longo, David Salle, and Terry Winters), Gabrielle Bryers Gallery, New York City
• 1983
  • "51-Xpressionism," Six Gallery, New York City
• 1982
  • "Dialectic Romance," Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ
  • "The All Fools Show," Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York
• 1981
  • "Inaugural Show," Gabrielle Bryers Gallery, New York City
• 1980
  • "Five Days of Paintings and Sculpture," curated by Gabrielle Bryers & David Boyce, 106 Spring Street, New York City
• 1979
  • "Idaho Biennial," Boise Gallery, Boise, Idaho
• 1978
  • "Best Western Artists," Idaho Commission of the Arts and Humanities, Sun Valley, Idaho
• 1977
  • "Idaho Annual," Boise City Gallery, Boise, Idaho
• 1974
  • "Americans in Germany," Landstul, West Germany

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:
• 1986
  • Stephen Westfall, Arts Magazine, February
  • Sarah Cecil, Art News, February
• 1985
  • International Herald Tribune, August 10-11
  • Grace Glueck, The New York Times, March 3
• 1984
  • Arte Factum, v. 5