“…In
his latest of his series of shows at the Barbara Krakow Gallery, 16
new works in acrylic, collage and mixed media demonstrate both a technical
deftness and a quality of intuition which is easier to catalogue than
to explain or interpret. Five abstract Illuminations numbered
with precise Roman numerals speak a mostly curvilinear language whose
syllables are inflected from painting to painting, but seem, in themselves,
unique evocations. Illumination I (nocturne) hovers at one
pole against a sky of pulsating, refulgent blue and roots at it’s
other pole into a viscous blue the depth of midnight. In between,
so many shades of transition pass from one blue to another that this
transition itself becomes an event of infinite progression and regression.
The precision of balancing shapes, one rooted, the other hovering
is belied but not betrayed by the deliquescent blue which suspends
them both they seem to need each other as a skeleton and flesh,
container and contained…It is a delight to absorb in these sensuous
colors and redolent forms the modulations of spontaneity and discipline,
expressive gesture and control which ripple through Michael Mazur’s
new works in as seamless and provocative an amalgam as paint and purpose
can achieve.”
James Foritano
Artscope
May - June, 2006
"...Landscape
does dominate the strongest single wall in the show, whose start is
Michael Mazur's gorgeous Mind Landscape after Chao Meng-Fu...Intensely
rhythmical, its umbrella-like horizontals of green are linked by arcs
of deep brown. The space Mazur has created has both great height and
depth. The palette is achingly lovely; golds, russets and greens in
perfect balance."
Christine Temin
Boston Globe
September 20, 1996
"Mazur's
monoprint illustrations also feel remarkably attuned to the darkness
of Dante's world, recreating the awesome horror of Hell without relying
on cheap costumes or props...In Mazur's images the voice of the poet
rings clear."
Miles Unger
Art New England
December/January 1996-7
"Michael
Mazur could not paint an unbeautiful painting if he tried. This show
of recent works demonstrated how intelligently he has made use of
his interest in Chinese painting."
Jonathan Goodman,
Artnews,
Summer 1994
"...Michael
Mazur has discarded specific references to landscape while deepening
his dialogue with natural form...Ultimately these are introspective
paintings made by an artist who has stood in front of nature long
enough to hear in its repeated rhythms an echo of his own mortality."
Miles Unger,
New Art Examiner,
? 1993
"With
their panoramic vistas of empty space, these paintings inspire a mood
of unfettered contemplation."
Nancy Stapen,
Boston Globe,
December 27, 1990
"Michael
Mazur's new work consists of ten new pieces...All are self portraits...He
is revealing himself in a penetrating introspective way that uses
his abilities as a vehicle, not as just a showplace for them."
Marc Manheimer,
Art New England,
May 1987
"A
wave is breaking in Mazur's newest work. I see its force in the interplay
of light and dark in The Woods-Late Afternoon, an interplay
so delicate that the spell might be broken in a minute and so powerful
that you can't stand the thought that it will be."
William Corbett,
Arts,
January 1985
"Mazur
gives an apocalyptic majesty to a scene we keep having to remind ourselves
is just a Cambridge backyard...there is no detachment, emotional or
physical, between artists and subject..."
Christine Temin,
Boston Globe,
June 28, 1984
"Mazur
proved that monotypes, like other prints, can be monumental in scale.
And his decision to use the medium for a mural commission points up
one of the most striking developments in contemporary printmaking."
Barry Walker,
Artnews,
March 1984
"For
Mazur has accomplished nothing less than an expressive breakthrough--on
its own terms as persuasive a demonstration of a medium's neglected
possibilities as the paper cut-outs of Matisse's old age."
Robert Taylor,
Boston Globe,
April ?, 1983
"Mazur's
rapt, vigorous attention both to nature and to marks on paper recalls,
especially at this heroic scale, classical Chinese landscape painting."
Rebecca Nemser,
Art New England,
??1983
"As
this is the Los Angeles debut of an important east coast artist...it
is valuable to know that Mazur has always sought to go beyond the
specificity and materialism of the realist movement. His work has
plumbed more psychological realms and has more directly addressed
the human condition."
Ruth Weisberg,
Artweek,
July 3, 1982
"The
only really successful realist, narrative painting in the exhibition
is Michael Mazur's Incident at Walden Pond, a triptych depicting
the aftermath of a rape. The motion of panic in the woods communicates
what it might feel actually to come upon such a scene; the disorientation,
and the dreadful solution to the mystery of the running figures."
John Perrault,
The Soho News,
April 15, 1981
"Mazur
makes even flowers in bright daylight take on the feel of a body slowly
and hesitantly moving its limbs through space."
Richard Huntington,
Buffalo Currier Express,
March 15, 1981
"The
bracing and unmistakable air of the present in the freedom of execution
and scale of the work...full of energy, grace and mystery."
Mary King,
St. Louis Post Dispatch,
1980? (Review/Art, ND)
"In
all respects these drawings are the product of a sophisticated vision--and
that has been acquired despite education and natural gifts. It is
the hardest kind of battle to win."
Robert Storr,
New Art Examiner,
December 1980
"Although
Mazur is known primarily as a painter, he is a versatile artist who
has worked in various print media...thus the flexibility of the monotype
appeals to him...The results are so beautiful that the issue of the
nonmultiple print seems insignificant."
Pamela Allara,
Art News,
April 1979
"It
is good to see the work of an assured figure painter reminding us
that the vitality of an artist's concerns and his existence independent
of them continue to maintain a position at the very crux of all artistic
development."
Michael Florescu,
Arts,
January 1978
"Unlike
many artists of repute in Boston, he has enmeshed himself in the hub
art community."
Paul Dinger,
"Artist of the Week" Real Paper,
January 15, 1977
"The
style of Mazur's pastels evokes not only the atmospheric effects of
light and shadow, but also the feeling of letting one's gaze range
idly over the surroundings...Relaxed concentration is the attitude
of mind celebrated here. It is surprising how few works seem to reflect
this frame of mind."
Kenneth Baker,
Boston Phoenix,
December 20, 1976
"In
his most recent works, Mazur has culled the best elements from various
areas in his earlier production to produce what are his strongest
and most convincing statements. The central achievement in the recent
work lies in the artist's ability to reconcile the objective with
the subjective."
Kathe Tuttman,
New Boston Review,
Winter 1975
"The
man who was a master of the stylus is now a master of the airbrush
and is the only artist I can think of...in whose hands the airbrush
is anything but a degrading convenience."
John Canaday,
New York Times,
November 27, 1971
"The
Studio must be Mazur's tour de force. At least to date,...it epitomizes
the complex structure of the artist's work and, I think, establishes
its originality firmly."
Kenneth Baker,
Christian Science Monitor,
June 12, 1970
"Mazur
is a young master at the art of suggestion, implication, interference."
John Gruen,
New York Herald Tribune,
March 5, 1966
"The
tension of classical figurative poise and the dark introversion of
20th century Existential thought animates these torsos, ambiguous
refractions of fate and free will."
Robert Taylor,
Boston Sunday Herald,
December 26, 1965
"A
young American of notable talent has come upon the scene in the past
few years...Mr. Mazur is one of several American draughtsmen who have
worked with enormous benefit in the great tradition of drawing."
Dore Ashton,
Christian Science Monitor,
January 12, 1963