- Irwin Kremen
Irwin Kremen (born 1925) is aNorth Carolina artist andprofessor emeritus atDuke University .His artwork mainly consists of abstract
collage s, often composed from pieces of weathered paper he gathered during his travels. Early on, he worked on a small scale, producing collages no larger than his hand. He invented his own method of affixing the disparate pieces with paper hinges - not the traditional glue of other collage artists. Kremen's sculptures are composed of iron, saw blades and steel, among other materials. Kremen’s work has been shown in more than 30 venues at museums and contemporary art centers nationally and abroad.Early life
In the 1940s, Kremen took literature classes from poet
M.C. Richards at the renownedBlack Mountain College , a progressive liberal arts school founded in 1933 near Asheville, N.C. He worked as ajournalist inChicago , then lived for eight years inGreenwich Village where he wrote, read and worked in publishing, visited museums and followed avant-garde movements. In New York, in 1951, he met Black Mountain artistsJohn Cage ,Merce Cunningham andDavid Tudor . Cage dedicated his work for the piano, “4 minutes 33 seconds,” also known as his “silent piece,” to Kremen.Later, Kremen earned a Ph.D. in
clinical psychology atHarvard University . In 1963, he brought his wife and two children to Durham, joining the faculty in Duke’s psychology department. He made his first work of art three years later, after encouragement from his friend M.C. Richards.Important Shows
In 1979, Kremen, then 54, made his mark on the national art scene with a solo exhibition at the
Smithsonian Institution ’s National Collection of Fine Arts (now theSmithsonian American Art Museum ). Twenty one-man shows and 16 group shows followed. He retired from Duke in 1992 and continues to make art.In the spring of 2007, the
Nasher Museum of Art presented Kremen’s first retrospective was at the Nasher Museum of Art included more than 160 works – collage, painting and sculpture – spanning each of the 40 years of Kremen’s art-making since he began at age 41. [ [http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A155087 The Independent Weekly: In his ninth decade, Irwin Kremen celebrates a lifetime of art] ]References
External links
* [http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2007/03/kremen1.html Duke University: Beyond Black Mounitain]
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