Our featured artists for November are Guy Merrill, Jazz Brown and Melissa Ludin, three artists who use geometric abstraction in their work.
We asked all three artists some questions about his inspirations and practice in advance of their opening reception this Thursday, November 12 from 7 to 9 pm at Cairo. The exhibition runs through December 6.
Guy Palmer Merrill, "Gem." Colored pencil, ink and acrylic on rag board, 2015.
Guy Palmer Merrill is a visual artist and musician whose work has been exhibited at Good Neighbor Gallery, Fred Wildlife Refuge and Tacoma Art Museum, among other venues. He may also be found working behind the scenes as an art preparator for Greg Kucera Gallery in Pioneer Square. His work for November's show includes new works on paper, hanging sculptures, and a limited edition cassette of sound art titled "The Enfolding."
How did you arrive at your chosen medium?
I have always drawn ever since I was little. Even though I work in a lot of different mediums, drawing is at root of everything I do. I think of it more as a mode of working, or a way of thinking, than a medium. But even in my paintings, when I stop trying to be a painterly and I just start drawing with paint I often get better results. And with my sculptures, they start with scoring lines into museum board and that is definitely related to drawing. But even when I'm working on the surface and thinking about the way light will reflect off of the surface and cast shadows I'm still after something graphic that, for me, is like making a drawing.
What is your favorite part of your process?
My favorite part of making my sculptural work is watching the forms emerge out of the process. I'm not really designing an object and then making it. I'm designing a process that a sculpture can emerge out of. For my 2D work on paper I suppose I really like letting the ink bleed out over the paper into water I've pooled over the surface. The messy part is always the most fun.
Guy Palmer Merrill, "Artifact." Acrylic, clay, dust, museum board, 2014.
How do you begin work on a new piece?
For a lot of my sculptures I start by scoring a grid of triangles, or some kind of polygonal system, into museum board with a knife. At this point I have no idea what the sculpture will look like in the end. Then I fold, twist and turn the museum board until I find an angle or shape that I like, that has some sort of tension that will lead to an interesting form, and start sewing a shape together. Once I'm satisfied with the form all the way around I switch gears to painting the surface.
The most recent drawings usually start with pooling water onto the surface of watercolor paper and brushing india ink into it so that it spreads out, granulating over the surface. In the drawings I'm trying to create a sense of deep, exterior space. Often it with a horizon line and I work toward the foreground. At some point I switch to colored pencil, drawing lines with a ruler to suggest forms similar to those found in the sculptures.
What artists are you excited about right now?
Visual artists: Katharina Grosse, Antony Gormley, the artists of ZERO, Ray Johnson, Gearhard Richter, Dakota Gearhart, Rodrigo Valenzuela, Tim Cross, Robert Hardgrave, Jeffrey Simmons, Whiting Tennis, Preston Graves, Josh Kim, Richard Olmsted. Music: Emeralds, ACRE, Growing, SUNN0)))), The Harmonic Choir, Mountains, Popol Vuh, Stuart Dempster, The Wipers. Writers: Roberto Bolaño, Andri Snær Magnason, Umberto Eco, Cormac McCarthy.
Jazz Brown, "The Art of Being." Acrylic on canvas, 2015.
Jazz Brown is a Seattle painter whose work has been featured at Out of Sight, The Gary Henderson Gallery, and Onyx Fine Arts in Belltown. His hard-edged canvases are a bit reminiscent of Mondrian, if Mondrian's palette were bursting with joy.
How did you arrive at your chosen medium?
I needed a medium with a fast drying time. Acrylics were the obvious choice.
What is your favorite part of the process?
Selecting the color scheme is by far my favorite part. If the canvas is a dancer, the color choices are its dance.
How do you begin work on a new piece?
To begin, I dream of a geometric form. The form is sketched, then deconstructed into smaller pieces. Each shape is painted according to a random selected mathematical sequence.
What artists are you excited about right now?
Tariqa Waters is easily my favorite artist in Seattle. Her work is suggestive in a very familiar way. We both lived in Georgia, so her work reminds me of home. The geometric paintings of Juan Alonso-Rodriguez are simply stunning! Laura Castellanos' Borrowed Tribe and Cake And Ashes series are reminders of the child within us all.
Melissa Ludin, "It Takes a Steady Hand to Control Chaos." Watercolor and ink on paper.
The former manager of World Beads on Broadway (RIP), Melissa Ludin is a longtime fixture of the Capitol Hill scene. Her creative practice has ranged from jewelry making to the exuberant ink and gouache drawings she will be showing at Cairo.
How did you arrive at your chosen medium?
I went to Cornish in the late 90's for photography and printmaking. After so many years of reversing images in the dark room or in wood cuts, I was ready to start thinking in real time and make paintings that were put on paper as they stand. I am obsessed with gouache and German watercolor cakes because they remind me of makeup I would steal from my friend Sarah's mom in 4th grade. Anything that feels like putting makeup on paper is going to thrill me.
What is your favorite part of your process?
I'm into every facet of the process. I really love to watch terrible, terrible, awful, horrible television shows while I paint. I also swear a lot and look out the window and then swear some more. Oh, I also like that I have to wear my glasses to make work. I take them off when I eat or drink (which is constantly) so it's refreshing to actually be able to see. It makes all the swearing worthwhile.
How do you begin work on a new piece?
I usually start a new piece right at the point where i'm about to misplace my mind. It brings me back from the edge. being able to control your hand and eye to make something lovely is a really powerful experience.
What artists are you excited about right now?
I will forever be in awe of Derek Bourciers' work. He is brilliant in ways that are otherworldly. He has been living in Florida and is using the dolphin in ways we all wish we could. I am really into the contemporary poet Warsan Shire. I've also been kind of obsessed with kids drawings lately. If I could draw like a 8 year old i would be hyped.