Loren Munk

Dam, Stuhltrager
October 2006

Loren Munk’s eye-popping canvases at Dam, Stuhltrager are loaded to the gills with his graphically dazzling, Pop-iconic emblems of artworld people and ideas both historical and engagingly local. These ambitious works are the culmination of ten years of research; the sheer amount of information is overwhelming. But Munk marshals it all for us into enjoyably digestible patterns, producing color-crazy compositions of endless invention and startlingly cogent complexity. Underneath it all is Munk’s dark playful wit. Sneaking up in insets and sidebars and round about the margins are the artist’s delightfully snarky asides. ˜It’s not hard to guess the artist has been around the block a few times. A writer and artist of longstanding reputation, he’s an insider in an insider’s world. The show transcends all this. But still it is perhaps best viewed with dark glasses after a good night’s sleep.

—Don Carroll