Patrick Merrill (December 4, 1948-August 31, 2010), a passionate and talented mixed-media artist and printmaker, died after a long battle with cancer. His work included etchings, woodcuts, collographs, monoprints and intaglio relief prints. His topics ranged from self-portraits to the disasters of war. Merrill was also curator of Cal Poly Pomona's art gallery from 1997 to 2009, and was publicity and exhibition director for the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art from 1990 to 2000.
Merrill’s reaction to 9/11 resulted in 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Famine, War, Death, Petulance (2004). He described it as, “the war mania, revenge mind set, rising Nationalism--the fear, the anger in the air.” The original four large prints were reproduced for “Art of Democracy,” a national coalition of political art exhibitions all taking place in the Fall of 2008. Merrill’s 4 Horsemen was a central piece for many of the participating venues.
Nuclear explosions appeared frequently in Merrill’s work, warning against both war and environmental disasters. The Poster of the Week is Merrill’s Beginning of Empire. It juxtaposes the 1945 nuclear bombing of Hiroshima against an American Flag. Etched across the stripes of the flag are a series of Haiku, in Japanese with English translations, taken from, The Atomic Bomb: Voices from Hiroshima and Nagasaki by Kyoko Iriye Selden and Mark Selden. The Haiku on the etching are written below.
Fire flowers glow
bones must be burning under the river
-- Utsumi Kanshi
Out of the infernal fire
corpses in the summer river
-- Ichiki Ryujoshi
Blue fire on bare bones burns
a star falls
-- Okamoto Ogaku
Charred black
they hold perhaps a cicada-catering pole
perhaps they are brother and sister
-- Kozaki Teijin
Nothing to touch
ten fingers remain open
-- Sawaki Kin'ichi
I look across wide and far
where is the Lord autumn wind
-- Kimura Ryokushi
Like stakes
Tombs stand side by side
hammered in
-- Takayanagi Shigeroba
Swollen with burns
unable to make a weeping face he weeps
-- Hatanaka Kyokotsa
Whether of not I listen
ghosts sob on the atomic field
-- Taniguchi Seinosuke
Rainbow vanishing
a cross stood on the hill
-- Mori Tsuneo
Their whispers like ghosts of the dead
flies swarm
-- Seo Tets
Two exhibitions of Merrill’s work will open next month:
A memorial service/wake will take place at 2:00pm on Saturday, October 30, at the Begovich Gallery at Cal State Fullerton. This will be followed by a panel discussion of Merrill's art at 4:30pm and the opening reception from 5 to 8pm for Patrick Merrill: Revelation.
No comments:
Post a Comment