This is one watermelon you do not want to eat…or be eaten by. A giant lick of modeling paste extends from Valerie Hegarty’s repulsive ‘Watermelon Tongue,’ curbing the appetite and recalling ‘Little Shop of Horrors,’ one inspiration for this painting. Hegarty was also thinking of last year’s news reports of exploding watermelons in China, which were mistakenly sprayed with growth accelerator. Now do you want to know where your food comes from? (At Nichelle Beauchene Gallery on the Lower East Side, through October 20th).
Merrily Kerr is an art critic and writer based in New York. For more than 20 years, Merrily has published in international art magazines including Time Out New York, Art on Paper, Flash Art, Art Asia Pacific, Art Review, and Tema Celeste in addition to writing catalogue essays and guest lecturing. Merrily teaches art appreciation at Marymount Manhattan College and has taught for Cooper Union Continuing Education.
For more than a decade Merrily has crafted personalized tours of cultural discovery in New York's galleries and museums for individuals and groups, including corporate tours, collectors, artists, advertising agencies, and student groups from Texas Woman's University, Parsons School of Design, Chicago's Moody Institute, Cooper Union Continuing Education, Hunter College Continuing Education and other institutions. Merrily's tours have been featured in The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Sydney Morning Herald and Philadelphia Magazine.
Merrily is licensed by New York City's Department of Consumer Affairs as a tour guide and is a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA USA)
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