Paul Merrick, Portrait (Innocent X), 2020

Merrick’s practice is fundamentally rooted in painting. However, he shifts between mediums, blurring the edges between disciplines. Merrick combines painting with sculpture and the made with the ready-made. 

He exclusively uses National Geographic magazines as a starting point for a new series of paintings, in particular copies from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. There is a strong nostalgic pull towards this era of the 20th century, a slow passing of time, when the world was a smaller place and magazines like National Geographic were windows into far-away places. The saturated colour and print imperfections, as well as the reportage and documentation of the subjects have a seductive quality that have a strong affinity for the artist when thinking about making paintings. Sifting and filtering these images over and over allow for some images to have an immediacy and others to emerge over time.

Paul Merrick

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Paul Merrick