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)
The title of Hillary Pecis’ current New York solo show at David Kordansky Gallery, ‘Warm Rhythm’ perfectly describes the vibrant colors and abundant patterning of her new paintings. Set in LA and often inspired by scenes she encounters in her cross-country runs or daily life in the city, her paintings both sooth and excite with their tranquil subject matter rendered in bold color. The delectable quality of a still life with half-eaten lunch or this cozy scene with cat, reading lamp and mug carries over into delight at an orange house set against lush greens of a verdant front yard or the blooms spilling out of a vividly painted flower shop. (On view in Chelsea through Oct 12th).
Hilary Pecis, Pepita, acrylic on linen, 44 x 34 x 1 ½ inches, 2024.
Billed as a ‘museum of art and technology,’ Mercer Labs has generated buzz since opening in Spring ’24 across the street from the Oculus Transportation Hub in lower Manhattan. The 15-room immersive experience is a partnership between Roy Nachum, an NYC-based multi-media artist whose work has ranged from cover art for Rihanna’s 2015 ‘Anti’ album to photorealist portraiture collaborations with blind individuals, and developer Michael Cayre. In its current iteration, all rooms have been programmed with Nachum’s work, offering essentially a museum-sized solo show designed to overwhelm the senses with projected images in mirrored rooms. Signage in braille, an audio installation and a display of portraits previously shown at Chelsea gallery ‘A Hug From the Art World,’ nod to Nachum’s interest in creating accessibility for people who are sight-impaired, though the overall experience is designed to impress visually. Here, in a room titled ‘The Dragon,’ 507,000 LED lights powered by Dragon02 technology developed by Ledpulse create images via vertically-hung strings of LED lights. Mirrored walls, floor and ceiling amplify the effect, which Mercer Labs describes as like ‘passing through a hologram.’ (On view at 21 Dey Street. Tickets at https://www.mercerlabs.com).
Installation view of ‘New Nature’ at Mercer Labs, August 2024.Installation view (detail) of ‘New Nature’ at Mercer Labs, August 2024.
Sketches of flowers, two conversing birds, an eye, a huge drawing of a house and other line drawings are realized as free-standing steel sculpture in Met Museum’s current Roof Commission by Kosovan artist Petrit Halilaj. Titled ‘Abetare,’ after a textbook the artist used in school to learn the alphabet, the installation’s monumental size is belied by its delicate and casually rendered forms, all based on drawings the artist found on school desks in Kosovo and other Balkan countries. Prompted by the planned demolition of his old school, one of the few buildings that remained from the artist’s war-torn hometown, Halilaj preserved the markings of kids from years past, creating a language of drawings that expresses the thoughts and experience of young people. (On view through Oct 27th).
Petrit Halilaj, installation view of ‘Abetare,’ Met Museum Roof Commission, summer ’24.
‘Don’t Forget to Call Your Mother,’ a compact show of photography from the 70s onward from the Met Museum’s collection, showcases complex portraits built from pieces of information rather than a traditional physical likeness. Snippets from Larry Sultan’s family’s home movies and an image of a solitary bathrobe by Sophie Calle point to specific memories that shaped an individual’s identity, while Darrell Ellis worked with his late father’s photo archive and Sadie Barnette creates a neon-edged photo collage memorial to San Francisco’s first Black-owned gay bar, owned by her father. Annette Messager’s collection of small, framed photos of eyes, mouths, torsos and other body parts arranged against the wall in a dense, circular cluster by twine and nails creates a collective portrait of an unknown group. Titled ‘My Vows,’ the images suggestively connect belief and the body. (On view on the Upper East Side through Sept 15th).
Annette Messager, My Vows (Mes Voeux), 106 gelatin silver prints, bound between glass and cardboard, black tape, twine and acrylic push pins, dimensions variable, 1990.Annette Messager, My Vows (Mes Voeux), 106 gelatin silver prints, bound between glass and cardboard, black tape, twine and acrylic push pins, dimensions variable, 1990.
Near a text describing City Hall Park as the ‘refuge of the people, the cradle of liberty,’ Native American artist Cannupa Hanska Luger’s steel sculpture of a bison skeleton recalls the deliberate mass slaughter of the animal from the mid-to-late 19th century. Part of the Public Art Fund’s annual art programming in the park, the solitary sculpture is smaller than past installations but meaningfully and impactfully placed at the park’s dramatic southern entrance. Titled ‘Attrition,’ the piece speaks to sustained attack on the lives and culture of Native American peoples by the near eradication of bison, yet the bison skeleton’s mechanical, plated design and obviously durable material conveys strength and resilience. (On view through Nov 17th.)
