February 11 - March 10, 2021
Kiyoshi Ostuka Tribute Exhibition
I Painted Over Andy Warhol: Mel Smothers
On the Wall: Helen Iranyi
Carter Burden Gallery presents three new exhibitions: Kiyoshi Otsuka Tribute Exhibition in the East Gallery, I Painted Over Andy Warhol in the West gallery featuring Mel Smothers, and On the Wall featuring Helen Iranyi. The virtual exhibition runs from February 11 thru March 10, 2021 here and on Artsy.net.
Kiyoshi Otsuka Tribute Exhibition
Carter Burden Gallery had the privilege of knowing and exhibiting Kiyoshi Otsuka since 2017. We are deeply saddened by the loss of Kiyoshi as a friend and as an exceptional artist. In this memorial exhibition Carter Burden Gallery hopes to honor his life and his artwork.
The Japanese word Setsunai (切ない), which does not have a direct and complete English translation, captures the essence of this exhibition. It is described by the Japanese American writer Nina Li Coomes as, “the painful twinge at the edge of a memory of someone you have loved… It is the sting of time passing. It is the joy afloat in the knowledge that everything is temporary.”
“My acrylic abstractions develop directly from experience of the landscape. I have worked in Propagation for The New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx which has been a pivotal influence. The organic forms of roots and trees, shrubs and flowers, water and weather provide inspiration. Water is the elemental aspect/concept of my work. Water provides nourishment through roots, and the intensity of roots energy is powerful. I aim to express this power through my paintings. Water is my medium with acrylic paint. And a liquidity is often evident in some of my very abstract pieces. The images I present here speak to the beauty, intensity and mystery of nature and our deep connection to its ever evolving and transformative power.” – Kiyoshi Otsuka
Mel Smothers
Mel Smothers presents paintings from his series I Painted Over Andy Warhol, which he first started in 2006 in his Bushwick loft. These latest paintings in his series take their inspiration from the lotus gardens he has visited in China and California. These painterly and bright oil paintings feature lotus blossoms playfully situated on a plane above iconic images by Andy Warhol. Smothers describes this concept as, “art about art.” Smothers explains his process, “For me, painting is about the journey. That needs to be said. Validation comes and goes. What remains is the visual road map created by the struggle of painting. The story of pushing paint around, and as the years go by, finding it is the reason to get up in the morning.”
Mel Smothers, b. 1947, grew up in Northern California in the 1960’s and received his BFA from the University of California at Davis, studying under Wayne Thiebaud, and his MFA from the University of Idaho. After leaving California in 2004, Smothers moved his studio to New York, first to Brooklyn, and then to Chelsea; he is now in South Lake Tahoe, where he is temporarily working through the COVID-19 pandemic, until he can get back to his, as he describes, “hard-to-find studio in a old garage, along the shore of East River, NYC”. Smothers has had an extensive exhibition history in both California and New York, including solo and group exhibitions at Pivot Gallery, Pence Gallery, Morris Graves Museum, Cooper Union and more. He is in major public and private collections including Brooklyn Museum, University of California at Davis and Sacramento, Merrill Lynch, South Lake Tahoe Public Library, Derfner Judaica Museum and more.
Helen Iranyi
Helen Iranyi presents illustrations and the visual process of writing books in On the Wall. Nine panels line the walls to explain the process of producing her four latest books from manuscript to mechanical layout to final printed book. Books include “Royal Threads”, “New York is Theater - Snapshots of a Vanished City”, “No Exit – And No Joking Either”, and “What Birthday Present??? – A Book of Nonsense”. Each panel visually describes the research, images, inspiration, and illustrations from each book.
Helen Iranyi was born in 1937. As a teenager, she attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She received a B.S. in Computer Science at the N.Y. Institute of Technology/SUNY (NY) in 1990. In addition to being a visual artist Helen Iranyi has worked over 55 years as an art director and senior book designer. She has created over 500 covers and interiors. Her illustrations and designs have appeared on or in publications including HarperCollins Publishers, Scholastic Corporation, McGraw-Hill, George Braziller, Inc. and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. Iranyi is also a published author and you can read more about her publications on Amazon. A reproduction of her painting has been featured on a Time, Inc. catalog, Seven Arts News. Her works are in numerous private and corporate collections. Her artist files are included in the Smithsonian Institution Libraries Collection, Yale University Library collection, the Museum of Modern Art DADABASE, and in the Artist Files at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Archives in New York. Her personal letters are included in Columbia University Library collection.
Installation Views
