A forerunner of the post-painterly abstraction movement, contemporary artist Gary Komarin approaches each composition with a pure openness to inspiration. With every brushstroke, he builds a visual interpretation of his mindset in that moment, never knowing what he's going to paint next. Komarin asserts that, for him, "the best paintings are the paintings that paint themselves."
Komarin invites risk into his abstract work, and employs daring in every element of his pieces. From his adventurous deployment of spackle and house paint as mediums to his playful use of color and imperfect lines, he pulls forms from a backdrop of consciousness, rather than merely delivering images to a surface. He enjoys instilling a child's sense of wonder into his abstractions and still-lifes, invoking a toddler's experience of "seeing things without knowing what they are."
Born in New York City, Komarin is the son of a Czech architect and Austrian author. He attended art school at Boston University, where painter Phillip Guston became a mentor. Much of Komarin's work nods to Guston, without mimicking or replicating the latter’s signature cartoonish style.
Komarin has exhibited in the United States, Asia, the United Kingdom and throughout continental Europe. In 1996, his work was included in an exhibition at 41 Green Street in New York. He has received numerous awards, including the New York Foundation for the Arts grant in painting, the Joan Mitchell Prize in Painting and the Edward Albee Foundation Fellowship. Komarin lives in rural Connecticut, where he continues to create new work.
Find original Gary Komarin paintings, drawings and mixed media works on 1stDibs.
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas , 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin...
Oil
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas, 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin ...
Canvas, Oil
$15,697
Vessel
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Vessel, 2024 Acrylic on canvas/wood panel 76.2 x 61 cm 30 x 24 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary K...
Canvas, Acrylic, Wood Panel
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas , 2025 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin...
Canvas, Oil
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas, 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin ...
Canvas, Oil
$15,697
Vessel
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Vessel, 2024 Acrylic on canvas/wood panel 76.2 x 61 cm 30 x 24 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary K...
Canvas, Acrylic, Wood Panel
$15,697
Vessel
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Vessel, 2024 Acrylic on canvas/wood panel 76.2 x 61 cm 30 x 24 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary K...
Canvas, Acrylic, Wood Panel
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas , 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin...
Canvas, Oil
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas , 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin...
Canvas, Oil
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small canvas, 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin ...
Canvas, Oil
Small canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small canvas , 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin...
Canvas, Oil
$15,697
Vessel
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Vessel, 2024 Acrylic on canvas/wood panel 76.2 x 61 cm 30 x 24 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary K...
Canvas, Acrylic, Wood Panel
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas, 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin ...
Canvas, Oil
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas, 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin ...
Canvas, Oil
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas, 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin ...
Canvas, Oil
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas, 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin ...
Canvas, Oil
$15,697
Vessel
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Vessel, 2024 Acrylic on canvas/wood panel 76.2 x 61 cm 30 x 24 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary K...
Canvas, Acrylic, Wood Panel
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas, 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin ...
Canvas, Oil
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas, 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin ...
Canvas, Oil
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas , 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin...
Canvas, Oil
Price Upon Request
A Wilder Blue
By Gary Komarin
Located in Fairfield, CT
Born in New York City, the son of a Czech architect and Viennese writer, Gary Komarin is a risk taker in contemporary painterly abstraction. Komarin’s stalwart images have an epic quality that grip the viewer with the idea that he or she is looking at a contemporary description of something timeless. For painter Gary Komarin, abstraction has never been a formal dead end. Rather, it has allowed him to challenge the limitations of the style - to make painting ‘include more’ precisely because a recognizable image excludes too much. Komarin has been called a “painter’s painter”. His status in this regard is based on the authenticity of his work, its deep connection to the tradition of Modern painting as well as its sustained individuality as an utterly personal voice. Like many of the best artists of his generation he is indebted to the New York School, especially his mentor Philip Guston with whom he studied at Boston University where he was awarded a Graduate Teaching Fellowship. Komarin has been particularly successful at filtering these influences through his own potent iconography. “From these seemingly unlovely methods Komarin gets paintings that vibrate with historical memory, echoing such things as Matisse’s driest most empty pictures. Robert Motherwell’s spare abstractions of the 1970’s, or the early New Mexico and Berkeley paintings...
Enamel
Price Upon Request
CAKES STACKED/SINGLE SACK (yellow on green)
By Gary Komarin
Located in Fairfield, CT
Art in America Sarah S. King July 2003 Komarin’s most successful works are serial - such as the Pop-artish “cake” images - in which versions of a crudely outlined central image...
Price Upon Request
CAKES STACKED/SINGLE SACK (white on blue)
By Gary Komarin
Located in Fairfield, CT
Art in America Sarah S. King July 2003 Komarin’s most successful works are serial - such as the Pop-artish “cake” images - in which versions of a crudely outlined central image are...
Paper, Acrylic
Price Upon Request
Duke and Wigmore Series #1
By Gary Komarin
Located in Fairfield, CT
Born in New York City, the son of a Czech architect and Viennese writer, Gary Komarin is a risk taker in contemporary painterly abstraction. Komarin’s stalwart images have an epic qu...
Acrylic, Archival Paper
Price Upon Request
CAKES STACKED/SINGLE SACK (green on pink)
By Gary Komarin
Located in Fairfield, CT
Art in America Sarah S. King July 2003 Komarin’s most successful works are serial - such as the Pop-artish “cake” images - in which versions of a crudely outlined central image are...
Oil
$682
H 15.75 in W 11.82 in D 0.12 in
Original-Magic Bell-British Awarded Artist-Abstract Expression-oil on canvas
By Shizico Yi
Located in London, GB
In her 2024 series, "The Weaver," Shizico explores forms, layers, and time onto canvases. Applying the format of diptychs and triptychs, she creates lyrical narratives, capturing the...
Gesso, Canvas, Oil, Acrylic, Wood Panel
$1,200
H 21.5 in W 28.5 in
Abstract Composition, Contemporary Oil on Canvas, Late 20th Century
By Elfi Schuselka
Located in Astoria, NY
Elfi Schuselka (Austrian, b. 1940), Abstract Composition, Oil on Canvas, apparently unsigned, unframed. 21.5" H x 28.5" W. Provenance: From the collection of the artist. Note: Schuse...
Canvas, Oil
$2,593
H 24.81 in W 24.81 in D 1.38 in
Long Meadow, Original painting, Landscape, Floral Art, Impressionist
By Elaine Kazimierczuk
Located in Deddington, GB
This work comprises a pair of paintings of a meadow called Long Mead, which create a diptych. Although the paintings could be available separately, they compliment one another when h...
Canvas, Oil
$6,074
H 18 in W 24 in D 2 in
Urban Landscape Painting of the Victorian Arcade of Accrington Northern England
By Angela Wakefield
Located in Preston, GB
Urban Landscape Painting of the Victorian Arcade of Accrington Northern England by Leading Contemporary British Artist, Angela Wakefield Art measures 24 x 18 inches Victorian Arcad...
Canvas, Paint, Cotton Canvas, Acrylic, Wood, Wood Panel, Board
$4,368
H 39.77 in W 39.77 in D 2.17 in
Carpet of Flowers II, Original painting, Abstract Landscape, Floral art, Meadow
By Elaine Kazimierczuk
Located in Deddington, GB
A summer meadow strewn with wild flowers, re-interpreted to create an effect like a tapestry or sampler. Mixed media but mainly oil, on canvas. Framed in a white tray frame - framed ...
Canvas, Oil, Mixed Media
$440
H 12 in W 12 in D 1.5 in
Plummet - Contemporary Abstract Painting in Red, Blue, Beige, Black, Yellow
Located in Gilroy, CA
Plummet is an intricately layered abstract painting by Deanna Schuerbeke. She builds expressive works through layers of colors, texture, and mark-making that tread the line of chaos ...
Oil
$6,074
H 18 in W 24 in D 2 in
Colourful Urban Landscape Painting of the town of Accrington in North of England
By Angela Wakefield
Located in Preston, GB
Colourful Urban Landscape Painting of the town of Accrington in North of England by Leading Contemporary British Artist, Angela Wakefield Art measures 24 x 18 inches Colourful urba...
Canvas, Wood, Paint, Cotton Canvas, Acrylic, Wood Panel, Board
$505
H 11.82 in W 7.88 in D 1.58 in
4 Cybergraph Enredo (S2). Colourful abstract geometric painting.
By Juan Pita
Located in Segovia, ES
4 Cybergraph Enredo (S2). Colourful abstract geometric painting Mixed media and Acrylic Paint on panel, 2025. Dimensions in cm.: 30 x 20 x 4 cm. In inches: 11.8" x 7.87" x 1.57" . ...
Canvas, Mixed Media, Wood Panel, Acrylic, Panel
East Head, Windy Day
Located in Deddington, GB
Stephen Kinder East Head windy day Original Landscape Painting Oil Paint on Board This painting was completed on location in the late summer of 2020. It was a breezy day on West Wittering...
Canvas, Oil
$1,200
H 21.5 in W 23.5 in
Abstract Composition, Contemporary Oil on Canvas, Late 20th Century
By Elfi Schuselka
Located in Astoria, NY
Elfi Schuselka (Austrian, b. 1940), Abstract Composition, Oil on Canvas, apparently unsigned, stamped "Studio Elfi Schuselka" to verso, unstetched, unframed. 21.5" H x 23.5" W. Prove...
Canvas, Oil
$6,400Sale Price|20% Off
H 36 in W 24 in
Lincoln 1860, acrylic, resin, and sumi ink on canvas over panel, 36 x 24 inches.
Located in New York, NY
Jongwang Lee's paintings challenge a dormant potential he believes lives within all humans. Inspired by Buddhist philosophies of space, Korean ideas of communication with the soul, a...
Canvas, Resin, Sumi Ink, Acrylic, Wood Panel
$4,200
H 16 in W 36 in
Initial Trio - black, white, red, lyrical abstract, triptych acrylic on panel
By Alice Teichert
Located in Bloomfield, ON
Paris born Alice Teichert’s ethereal graphic work is inspired by a rich background in art, music and literature. Her love of the old masters is evident in the composition and colours...
Canvas, Acrylic Polymer, Crayon, Acrylic, Wood Panel
A Suite of Blue Sea, Fontveille
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin A Suite of Blue Sea, Fontveille, 2024 Signed by the artist Mixed media on canvas 152 x 122 cm 60 x 48 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop ...
Mixed Media
CAKE (dark blue)
By Gary Komarin
Located in White Plains, NY
"CAKE (dark blue)" by Gary Komarin, 2015, acrylic on paperbag, 24 x 18 inches. This painting features the cream colored outline of a two tiered cake on a dark blue field with the word Cake above it painted on paperbags. Born in 1951 in New York City, Gary Komarin is an American artist living and working in Connecticut and New York City. Like many of the best artists of his generation, he is indebted to the New York School, especially his mentor Philip Guston with whom he studied at Boston University. Komarin has exhibited extensively throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Asia. In 2008, he had a solo museum exhibition at the Musee Kiyoharu Shirakaba in Japan. In 1996, Komarin’s work was included in a pivotal exhibition at 41 Greene Street, New York, NY where his work was shown with the paintings of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Philip Guston and Bill Traylor...
Acrylic
Cake Stacked Brown on Blue
By Gary Komarin
Located in Fairfield, CT
Art in America Sarah S. King July 2003 Komarin’s most successful works are serial - such as the Pop-artish “cake” images - in which versions of a crudely outlined central image are...
Enamel