An Attraction to the Discarded – An interview between Kent Merriman Jr. & Nancy Tousley

Glenbow Museum Blog
July 11, 2019

Kent Merriman Jr. is the Calgary-based emerging artist featured in the 9th installment of Glenbow’s ongoing One New Work series, curated by award-winning senior art critic, arts journalist and independent curator Nancy Tousley.

This interview between Nancy and Kent was conducted in May 2019 in preparation for the exhibition.

If you are inspired and want to know more after reading this interview, join Kent and Nancy at our Salon Series night on July 24 where they will continue to explore ideas related to Kent’s work. Tickets available here.

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NT: Do you consider yourself to be a realist painter?

KM: Yes, definitely. I stick with the traditional component of painting for the most part. And I take the information from what I see. The paintings have a naturalistic quality. I might not like all the marks I see, but I still honour them by painting them because they are there and I represent the subject matter truthfully

NT: What attracts you to the subject matter?

KM: It’s mostly just things from the past or things that I have seen before that are able to convey the message that I feel I want to present. I never look at something and think “This is something that I want to paint.” It’s something that I feel I could use as a metaphor or something that came from a past experience that will relay a certain message that might not have anything to do with what I’m actually seeing.

To read the entire piece, please click here or open the PDF listed below.

Image Credit:

Deplorable Armour, 2015
Oil, acrylic, loose wire, metal brackets,
burlap, chainlink on canvas
57” x 47” x 4”