Momen Month at Marion Meyer
(Laguna Beach, CA, October 12, 2008) – A series of major paintings and sculptures by international artist Karl Momen is featured this month in the current show at Laguna Beach’s Marion Meyer Contemporary Art through November 10.
This Momen exhibition of new and selected works features three epic homage paintings, including “Faust,” the artist’s newly completed work honoring German writer, poet and dramatist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Momen began work on this large 60” x 60” oil painting in 1995 and completed it just this summer. The Marion Meyer showing represents the artwork’s worldwide debut.
Also featured is a tribute to Goethe’s “Iphigenia in Tauris” (1998 – 2002), a 60” x 60” oil painting .Shown as well is as a very spare and elegant painting, “Dem lieben Gott,“ an homage to Austrian composer Anton Bruckner. Several other major Momen paintings and sculptures are on view.
In addition to the Marion Meyer show, Momen is featured this month in Laguna Beach with a simultaneous one-man show at Endangered Planet Gallery. This exhibition unveils Momen’s new six-painting “Dream Island” suite, along with additional Momen paintings and sculptures, and also runs through November 10.
Karl Momen is an international artist whose works are in public and private collections in Europe, Japan and the U.S. Here in America, he is best known as the creator of the epic 87’-tall “Metaphor: The Tree of Utah” sculpture that is located adjacent to Interstate 80 in Utah’s stark Bonneville Salt Flats. Momen’s monumental sculpture, completed in 1986, is seen by millions of travelers each year.
Born in Iran in 1934, Momen moved to Germany in the late 1950s and studied art and architecture there. In Germany he worked for both Max Ernst, one of the masters of Surrealism, and Le Corbusier, one of Europe’s foremost architects. Momen moved to Sweden in 1961 and, after establishing himself as a successful architect, began to work full-time as an artist and sculptor in 1978. Since then his work has been exhibited in numerous museums and galleries worldwide, including The American Swedish Museum (Chicago, IL, 2004), Hillstrom Museum of Art (St. Peter, MN, 2004), The Tech Museum of Innovation (San Jose, CA, 2005), the Nordic Heritage Museum (Seattle, WA, 2006) and the Krasl Art Center (St. Joseph, MI, 2006). His ten-painting suite on the operas of Richard Wagner was purchased in 2006 by Seattle’s Nordic Heritage Museum for its permanent collection. Upcoming Museum Exhibitions include shows in Museums in the United States, Europe and the Far East 2009 to 2014.
He currently lives in Stockholm, Sweden, and frequently works in the U.S. at his studio in Sausalito, CA.
Marion Meyer Contemporary Art is located at 354 N. Coast Highway. Call (949) 497-5442 or visit marionmeyergallery.com.
Endangered Planet Gallery is located 384 Forest Ave., #13, in the Lumberyard Mall. Telephone (949) 497-5690 for information, or go to endangeredplanet.org.
