Kent Merriman Jr.: Before My Feet

TrépanierBaer is excited to present Before My Feet by Kent Merriman Jr. opening Saturday, December 7, 2024. This exhibition will feature a collection of new work by the artist that has been two and a half years in the making.

In describing Merriman’s practice, critic Nancy Tousley has stated:

“Kent Merriman Jr.’s paintings have a startlingly real presence. They inhabit our space exuding confidence that they are more than mere illusions. They are physically assertive objects in the world and the uncanny doubles of what they depict. The shadows they cast are real shadows; the light that shines on them is real light…

Merriman pushes against the boundaries of traditional realist painting and window-on-the-world illusionism. To break the tyranny of the picture plane he removes the frame from painting as a shallow, two-dimensional illusion rendered on a flat surface and opens it up to the air. To bring in the third dimension he concocts a form of trompe l’oeil that weds painting to sculpture. His paintings are not only three-dimensional; they are hyper-realistic. Layering, modeling and carving paint as if it were intended to be a multidimensional material, Merriman makes objects that challenge both the limits of painting and the viewer’s grasp of reality….

Viewers are taken in, shocked, delighted, amazed by the deception. But by definition, realism is not reality; trompe l’oeil is optical illusion. What is real is their unreality and it is a tour de force.”

Op. Cit., Nancy Tousley, Kent Merriman Jr. and the Thingness of Objects. Glenbow Museum, Exhibition booklet, 2019.

Stay tuned for more on this highly-anticipated exhibition.

Image Credit:

Kent Merriman Jr.
All works in progress
Studio Visit, 2024
Images Courtesy TrépanierBaer