Upcoming Exhibitions
Munazza Naeem
October 2 – November 14, 2010
Seasons of Mist and Mellow Fruitfulness: Group of Seven Works from the AGW Permanent Collection
September 4, 2010 – January 2, 2011
David Merritt: Shim Sham Shimmy
November 20, 2010 – January 16, 2011
Lucie Simons
November 20, 2010 – January 30, 2011
David Merritt: Shim Sham Shimmy
November 20, 2010 – January 16, 2011
David Merritt wryly characterizes his artistic practice as "loitering at the intersection of drawing and installation." Appropriately, this exhibition features a selection of drawings, sisal sculptures, and video works exploring aural experience.
Merritt's drawings are decisive explorations of image and sound. The contents of his chart drawings are derived from databases of popular music. Taking the titles of popular songs, he maps them in intricately drawn diagrams, making connections between the many songs that use the same phrases, such as "last train." In a cartoon-like speech bubble, "last train" is drawn at the top of this chart, its presence a seed for an explosion of musical associations: last train... has gone; last train... to... the stars; last train... tonight. Interwoven lines, supplemented by many erasures, impose a new order on familiar musical phrases. The viewer is invited to decipher the connections from within the dense layering of marks comprising this chart. Upon close viewing, the intricate construction becomes apparent.
In bmi 100, Merritt draws connections between the song titles of Broadcast Music Incorporated's 100 top-earning songs of the twentieth century. These exercises in nomenclature, or naming, trace Merritt's train of thought. In spite of the rigid parameters of his deconstruction and categorization, the resulting works somehow -- indescribably -- seem to make music visible.
Like Merritt's chart drawings, his rope sculptures unpack and re-organize elements of popular culture. His most recent rope piece is suspended centrally in the gallery. Made from unraveled sisal rope, the form visually battles the tensions between heavy and light and tricks the eye with its apparent solidity. Smaller sisal sculptures, positioned throughout the gallery, also incorporate language. Hidden amongst the sisal rope fibers are a few carefully molded strands that form letters and words like "and," which are available as discoveries for the attentive viewer.
In many ways, Merritt explores the diminishing space between what is considered natural and what is considered a cultural construction, such as language. Language can be a tenuous form of communication. By separating words from their familiar contexts, Merritt draws attention to the ways in which we assign their meanings.
Merritt is based in London, Ontario, and is a professor in the Visual Arts Department at the University of Western Ontario. His work has been exhibited across Canada and internationally and is represented by Jessica Bradley Art + Projects, Toronto. A full-colour catalogue documenting Merritt's work is soon to be released. A version of this exhibition was shown at Museum London, and this exhibition will travel to the MacLaren Art Centre and the AGW in 2010.
