Paintings

 

 

Artist Statement

Through carefully constructed spaces, Morgan Mercer invites the viewer to adapt a childlike curiosity, fascination and desire to explore the places she creates. Each of her oil paintings begins with a meticulously built collage that is printed on transparency paper, projected on the canvas and drawn. With each layer of interpretation, the imagery is abstracted and infused with energetic marks until the painting explodes in a mass of color and overlapping brushstrokes. This layering and abstraction is designed to engage the viewer in a dialogue of exploration and discovery, and to create the feeling of a physical space despite a flat canvas. The imagery Mercer employs in her constructed worlds is a result of her constant and ever-evolving search for objects, people and environments that spark personal intrigue and wonder.