PATRICK MERRILL: revelation

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Patrick Merrill
War Panel from “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse:
Famine/War/Death/Pestilence,” 2004
Woodcut
Four panels, 6’ x 12’

Patrick Merrill: revelation features six monumental prints created between 1994 and 2010 with four of them specifically focused on a unique apocalytptic vision put forth by this Southern California artist and masterprintmaker. Among the many powerful artworks in the exhibition are four prints, 6’ x 12’, entitled “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” produced in 2004 as a response to the events that followed 9/11. Art historian Ruth Capelle writes in her essay for the book to be published on Merrill’s life and artwork, “Medieval man did not differentiate between the past as documented and the future as foretold by visionaries….Patrick Merrill does not claim a celestial vision of the future; he maps the realities as they have already occurred and continue to shape our world.” The artist’s final print, a diptych entitled “Alpha and Omega” was completed a week before his death and is a stunning addition to the exhibition.

Also included in the exhibition is a series of thirty small prints created by the artist during each of the Christmas seasons between 1977 and 2009.

Merrill died on August 31, 2010. A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 30, the same day as the opening of the exhibition, and will be held in the courtyard of the Cal State Fullerton Visual Arts Center. A panel discussion will take place at 4:30 p.m. immediately preceding the opening reception that begins at 5:00 p.m.

A 250-page book of Merrill’s artwork with full-color images and scholarly essays will be published in early 2011.