For Immediate Release:
UPCOMING OPENING RECEPTION
“Haiku: Paintings and Works by Donald E. Munson”
Where: Silver Circle Gallery Putnam, CT
When: On Display June 1 - July 29, 2018
Reception: Friday, June 1, 6-8pm (free event)
Gallery Talk/Open Mic Haiku Reading: Friday July 6, 6-8pm (free event)
Contact: Carly Martin | carly@silvercirclegallery.com | 860.928.2900
Where: Silver Circle and Pomfret School Gallery at 134 Main Street in Putnam, CT
When: On Display June 1 - July 29, 2018
Reception: Friday, June 1, 6-8pm (free event)
Gallery Talk/Open Mic Haiku Reading: Friday July 6, 6-8pm (free event)
Contact: Carly Martin | carly@silvercirclegallery.com | 860.928.2900
May, 2018… The Silver Circle Gallery and The Pomfret School Gallery in Putnam, CT are proud to announce the opening reception for a new exhibit “Haiku: Paintings & Works by Donald E. Munson”. The show will feature 30 new works from the notable artist as well some from his number series. The body of work showcases pieces grown from poems written by the artist back in 1973. This collection Munson calls, “many sentences toward a self”, will be on display June 1 - July 29 in the Pomfret School Gallery at Silver Circle. An opening reception will take place on Friday, June 1st from 6:00pm - 8:00pm. An artist talk and open mic haiku reading will take place on Friday July 6th, 6:00pm - 8:00pm. Refreshments will be available.
Born in New York, Donald Munson received his professional Certificate for Design and a BFA from Parsons. At Parsons he studied under the acclaimed artist and member of the Bauhaus, Josef Albers. Munson found inspiration in works by Albers, Henri Matisse, Paul Klee, Kazimir Malevich, Piet Mondrian and Kenneth Noland. Don has taught drawing, illustration, art history, design, typography and advertising at Parsons, Pratt and City University of New York.
For the past 45 years, Donald Munson has earned his place in the art world as a renowned illustrator, graphic designer, and painter with an impressive resume and list of exhibitions and affiliations in the New York Art scene, and his work is in private and public art collections throughout the world. Noteworthy are the facts that his work is in the permanent collection in the Museum of Modern Art, Hecksher Museum in Huntington, NY, the Society of Illustrators Museum of American Illustration in NYC, and he is in the private collections of such people as David Carson and Joerg & Savine Lichtenberg. Don developed nine commonly used fonts and he served as the vice president of Random House from 1979-1991, where he worked as the Division Vice President, Art Director and created covers for over 500 books. He worked with such authors as William Golding and Isaac Assimov, ultimately winning the Chesley Award as Best Art Director in 1991. Early in his career Donald worked with Salvador Dali at the MoMA, teaching him to utilize a new technique for producing art cards. Mr. Munson has also worked on Broadway set designs, and has had such clients as Readers Digest and New York Times.
Color is an everlasting theme in Munson’s work and he has concurrently achieved balance and tension within his pieces by mastering it. “Donald Munson is a poet singing the joy of nature, using color and line to produce a poem in visual terms. He has a personal style of great distinction …to evolve from sensitive line …into work one finds a combination of love and understanding of both nature and form” (Eva Gatling, Ex. Officio, The Heckscher Museum).
Optical illusions are created as he tactfully places colors on top of one another so that they appear transparent and thus create new colors. Munson favors metaphorical biomorphic shapes to create a familiarity within his compositions summon the viewer to interpret the work with personal associations and experiences. Notes Claude LeSuer of Art Speak in Soho, NY, (Donald) “…balances geometric and biomorphic elements to create exquisite formal tensions in his paintings of flowing forms.”
Currently Mr. Munson teaches Graphic Design, Typography, Fundamentals and Art History at Westfield State University, MA. Don’s collection of work can be seen on his website at http://redstairgallery.com.
###
Download Don's CV here
Download Don's bio/statement here
HAIKU ARTIST STATEMENT
During a creative writing class in 1974 I wrote Haiku.
Creating eight poems with small colored drawings directly beneath each.
The folded panels remained in my studio map case for years.
I would study them every once in a while.
Last year in 2017 I reviewed them once more. Inspired by these
works I selected nine colors creating new visual poems. Each small
painting is Acrylic on Fabriano. Completing thirty six images by 2018.
They are abstract, allegorical expressions using line and form.
Each are painted with colors directly out of the tube, not mixed.
Images are organic, minimal, wordless stories.
These are visual marks of energy.
Enjoy.
