Durham, N.C. - The first retrospective of the work of Irwin Kremen, a North Carolina artist whose work has been shown in 37 solo and group shows nationally and abroad, is at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University.  Irwin Kremen: Beyond Black Mountain (1966 to 2006) includes 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.  The exhibition will be on view until June 17.

The Nasher Museum of Art is a major arts center on Duke’s campus that serves the university, Research Triangle area and surrounding region with exhibitions and educational programs.

Kremen’s work mainly consists of abstract collages, 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.

In the 1940s, Kremen took literature classes from poet M.C. Richards at the renowned Black Mountain College, a progressive liberal arts school founded in 1933 near Asheville, N.C. He worked as a journalist in Chicago, then lived for eight years in Greenwich 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 artists John Cage, Merce Cunningham and David Tudor.  Cage dedicated his work for the piano, 4 minutes 33 seconds, also known as his “silent piece,” to Kremen.

“Once I started making a few works, it touched some vein deep within me,” said Kremen, who still lives in Durham with his wife, Barbara.  “As I continued to work, it took on the deepest and most profound meaning for me – and that’s what kept me going.”

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 the Smithsonian American Art Museum).  Twenty one-man shows and 16 group shows followed.  He retired from Duke in 1992 and continues to make art.

“Kremen’s collages are beautiful and very accomplished,” said Kimerly Rorschach, the Mary D.B.T. and James H. Semans Director of the Nasher Museum.  “He has an important body of work that is represented in many museums, but the work is under-recognized because works on paper are sensitive to light and cannot be shown very often.”

The exhibition also includes Kremen’s sculptures of iron and steel, and three monumental works made jointly by Kremen and sculptor/photographer William Noland, a professor of the practice in Duke’s Department of Art, Art History and Visual Studies.

“It’s amazing that Irwin Kremen was able to accomplish what he did – 21 solo exhibitions in 30 years – while working outside the mainstream of contemporary art,” Schroth said.  “His collages are stunningly beautiful and mysterious; his art speaks in another language, one with very ancient roots, and mystical in an abstract way.”

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated 130-page color catalog distributed by Duke University Press.  It is edited by Schroth and includes essays by Schroth and Kremen.  The exhibition is curated by Sarah Schroth, the Nancy Hanks Senior Curator at the Nasher Museum. 

The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University

The Nasher Museum of Art, designed by Rafael Viñoly, is located at 2001 Campus Drive at Anderson Street.  The museum, which opened in October 2005, includes a café and gift store.  The museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday; and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Additional information is available at www.nasher.duke.edu.

This exhibition and related programs received support from Duke’s Office of the President and the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation.