NEW YORK
Merrill Wagner: Works from the 80s
March 13 - April 26, 2019

Press:
The Brooklyn Rail: Review by Robert C. Morgan
artnet News: 23 High-Energy Gallery Shows Opening in New York This March That You Won’t Want to Miss

Zürcher Gallery is thrilled to present the work of Merrill Wagner. This will be Wagner’s second solo exhibition at Zürcher Gallery in New York following the first solo exhibition, which focused on her tape pieces from the 70s. Born 1935 in the Pacific Northwest, Wagner has lived in New York since 1957. Wagner works in abstraction in a wide range of media. This includes drawing, painting, time-based projects, book works and sculptural interventions. Her work aligns itself with both the principles of Minimalism, and the ethics of alchemy she manipulates materials to make works that are about the passing of time and material transformation.

In Works from the 80’s Zürcher Gallery exhibits work from one of her strongest periods. Many of the pieces showcase her unique process with using paint on rigid supports such as slate, steel, metal, stone, marble, concrete, and bluestone. Each piece touches on the cornerstones of Wagner’s idiosyncratic process. They all illustrate power exercised by chance, order, and time in her work.

The centerpiece of this show is Gorges (1986), which was originally shown at John Gibson Gallery, New York and in Slate at Springs Mills Industries, New York, curated by the Art Advisory Service, the Associate Council of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

In her 1986 review of the John Gibson show, Tiffany Bell writes:

"Gorges, a slightly smaller progression made of six panels of slate painted with casein, oil, and acrylic ultramarines, has a more complicated composition though a simpler look. The colors, which extend over more than one panel of slate and are separated by un-painted gray bands form an over-laying, more regular progression of painted areas that contrasts and complements the arrangement of the slate pieces. At the same time, the variations in color are more pronounced in the simple presentation of three distinctly different mediums. The casein has a light chalky color and uneven application whereas the oil is the darkest blue and appears to have been absorbed by the slate. The acrylic is the most brilliant of the three blues. Though the smaller paintings use the same blues, they have less to do with the contrast of different mediums and depend more directly upon the relationship between shape, line, and color."

"Consistent in most of Wagner's works is a longstanding interest in the element of chance. In her outdoor pieces, this aspect was conveyed by the uncontrolled changes caused by the passage of time. In the works exhibited here, it has more to do with the "found" quality of the pieces of slate. These pieces are collected from piles of discarded materials and demolition sites. Their broken edges and irregular shapes record the accidents of their history. Similarly, the variations in the colors are an unpredictable result of purchases of the "same" color.

"In Gorges, the elements have more visual complication. The ragged edges form interesting relationships between blank spaces on the wall and the painted areas of stone. Similarly, sharp painted edges are contrasted to the real edges of the panels of slate. The rough gray color of the stone complements the painted blue." (Arts Magazine, May 1968)

Upcoming solo exhibition: Merrill Wagner: Landscapes of Color, Große Kunstschau Worpswede, Germany June 30 to November 3, 2019 
Currently on view through March 23rd: 3 Americans from New York, A group exhibition with Regina Bogat and Lynn Umlauf curated by Gwenolee Zürcher at Galerie La Forest Divonne, Brussels

Recent Solo Exhibitions:

Works from the 70s, presented by Zürcher Gallery in Spotlight Section at Frieze NY, 2018.
Amidst Chance and Order, Konrad Fisher Galerie, Düsseldorf, Germany, 2018.
Merrill Wagner: Works from the 70s, Zürcher Gallery, NY, 2017.
Merrill Wagner, The New York Studio School, 2016.
Konrad Fischer Galerie, Berlin, Germany 2013. |
1970’s Women and Abstraction curated by Dr. Barbara Stehle, Zürcher Gallery, NYC, 2016.

Select Public Collections include: Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA; Chase Manhattan Bank, NYC; Coopers and Lybrand, Boston, MA; Gemeentemuseum , The Hague, Holland; Richard Gluckman, Architects, NYC; Long Island University, Brookville, NY; Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA; Nicolaysen Museum of Art, Casper, WY; Project Studios One, The Institute for Art and Urban Resourses, Long Island City, NY; Sears Arts Comission, Seattle, WA; Seattle Arts Comission, Seattle, WA; Seattle First National Bank, Seattle, WA; Smith College, Northampton, MA; Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA; University Museum at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, IL; Weatherspoon Art Gallery at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; William Paterson College, Wayne, NJ.

She was the recipient of the Andrew Carnegie Prize, National Academy of Design, the Academy Award in Art, American Academy of Arts and Letters both in 2006, and the Hassam Purchase Award, American Academy of Arts & Letters in 2002 amongst others. 

A book of Wagner’s work was published in 2016 conjunction with her solo exhibition at the New York Studio School including essays by Tiffany Bell, Naomi Spector, Robert Storr, Lilly Wei and John Yau. It is available for purchase at Zürcher Gallery for $25.00.