Rute Merk
Rute Merk, Jomantė, 118 x 87 cm, drobė, aliejus, 2020. © Rūtė Merk, Downs & Ross, Gallery Vacancy.
Rute Merk (born 1991) paints ghostly cultural images: digital avatars, fashion chronicles, archetypes of modernity. Since the very beginning of her career as an artist, Merk has explored the conceptual potential of painting and ways of becoming a channel for multifaceted references and connections.
From the early days of her career, Merk’s works stood out in the context of Lithuanian painting not only because of her method but also because of her visual expression: her expressive stroke is spacious and her compositions are uncluttered, as if leaving room for new connections to enter the painting. At the 2018 exhibition ‘Spirits Within’, sleek shapes referencing computer graphics appeared and can be found in the artist’s work to this day. In her latest series, ‘SS20’ (2020), Merk uses images and terminology from the fashion world by transferring images of Balenciaga models into abstract, psychedelic backgrounds. These figures are depersonalized and re-characterized, giving an awkward impression of liveliness to images we are accustomed to perceiving as commodities. However, this is not a dispute with fashion or entertainment but rather a general commentary on digital loneliness and the ghost encountered therein.
Rute Merk has a bachelor’s degree in painting from the Vilnius Academy of Arts and is currently studying for a master’s degree at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. The Berlin-based artist has organized solo exhibitions at Downs & Ross in New York, Gallery Vacancy in Shanghai, Vent Gallery in Vienna, and Editorial project space in Vilnius. Her works have been exhibited in group exhibitions at Kunstverein in Munich, Galerie Weisser Elefant in Berlin, Atletika gallery in Vilnius, Autarkia project space in Vilnius, Kunstverein in Marburg, Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius, Tallinn Art Hall, 427 gallery in Riga, and elsewhere.
The artist is represented by:
Downs & Ross (New York), https://downsross.com/
Vacancy (Shanghai), https://www.galleryvacancy.com/