Man with Plants, July 2010, oil on canvas, 60 X 60 inches
Nude in the Green World, July 2010, oil on canvas, 50 X 54 inches
About Carl Mehrbach
Mehrbach began his formal art education at the Art Students’ League in May 1973. His teacher was Bruce Dorfman. Within three months Mr. Dorfman had recommended Mehrbach to the artist Seymour Leichman. For four years Mehrbach was Mr. Leichman’s apprentice.
In 1977 Mehrbach decided to expand his art education: he wanted to work with Philip Guston. Guston's new approach to representative painting fascinated Mehrbach, full, as it was, with gushy paint and cartoon-like, bigger than life figures. Guston was the instructor to the M.F.A. graduate students at Boston University. Mehrbach sent in his application. Guston personally selected him after seeing his slide portfolio. Mehrbach worked with Guston for two years and received his MFA in June of 1979.
Mehrbach's artistic journey is a complex one. Mehrbach exhibited constantly, but just as constantly changed directions. For a while Mehrbach did large abstract paintings whose forms were three-dimensional. These led to wall sculptures. Then he turned back to representation. Recently his art is about human relationships. Even when his art represents only one person the interaction between viewer and represented persona is intense.
Formally, Mehrbach's art is acutely developed. Line, color, form, and composition sing together in harmony rarely found in contemporary art. Mehrbach's art is beyond post-modern. It has distilled all that is best in the history of western art; the art of Carl Mehrbach sings the complexity of being human right here right now.
Mehrbach writes a blog about his work in the studio. It is updated daily. Go to http://mehrbablog.weebly.com/index.html