Two ships appear to float in the center of PPOW’s Tribeca gallery space, their tattered sails and apparition-like figures on the cabins and crates suggesting that they’ve floated in from another place and time. The sense of disorientation is key to Guyanese-British artist Hew Locke’s consideration of Guyana’s colonial past and its future as the country experiences an oil boom. The dilapidated house on the deck of this ship is echoed in photographs on the wall of Guyanese houses that have seen better days; Locke adds acrylic renderings of water inundating the lower levels as a warning that human aspirations can be washed away by greater forces. (On view in Tribeca through April 1st).
Hew Locke, The Relic, wood and mixed media, 88 5/8 x 98 3/8 x 24 ¾ inches, 2022.
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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