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Paintings of Buildings

November 28, 2007- January 12, 2008

Reception: November 28, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Merlin James

Sikkema, Jenkins & Co

530 W 22nd St

On view from November 28 – January 12, Merlin James' latest solo exhibition at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. will highlight the depictions of buildings and architectural structures that are recurrent through his work.

James' paintings are diverse in imagery, handling, pictorial strategy and degree of abstraction. Across his output, however, we encounter houses, factories, sheds, churches, shelters, storefronts, castles and other vernacular buildings. These architectures, punctuated by windows, doorways, vents and chimneys, can be fragmentary, submerged and distorted or delineated with diagrammatic or illusionistic clarity.

Such imagery in James' work relates directly to small model buildings that he makes out of off-cuts of timber and other materials from his studio floor. Not artworks as such, the models are at once a byproduct and an aid to the making of the paintings. At times James will also borrow buildings from other artists, for example from backgrounds in Poussin paintings; or he will use buildings seen in old photographs.

James' architecture brings various associations – domesticity, industry, history (datedness). There can be a sense of places glimpsed from a car or train window. In general the buildings evoke a human presence in the environment (usually in the absence of figures themselves). The mix or alternation of functionality and ornament, and the reference to models or source images, sets up curious resonances with the artificial structuring and 'building' of the paintings themselves.

Merlin James' recent solo exhibitions include the Wales Pavilion at the 2007 Venice Biennale and 'Painting to Painting' – an exploration of his use of art-historical precedents – at the New York Studio School (2007). James was born in Wales in 1960 and is currently based in Glasgow, Scotland.

Books and DVDs related to artists in this show

Location   Gallery Sikkema, Jenkins & Co Address 530 W 22nd St New York (Chelsea) NY, 10011 United States Phone 212-929-2262 Fax 212-929-2340 Hours Tue-Sat 10-6 Nearby: All 2 galleries at 530 W 22nd St

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