Location: United States
Originally from South Florida, Meryl Pataky moved to San Francisco to attend the Academy of Art University. She fell in love with the tactile nature of sculpture and pursued her Bachelors degree in the major. The artist works in a wide range of materials such as precious metals, steel, paper, neon and organic or found objects. Meryl is attracted to materials and processes that provide their own resistance to her hand like welding, small metal and glass bending (neon). She explains, “These materials and processes remind me of the importance of patience, a trait I normally struggle with. During my process, I am forced to behave and react as if I were a different person. A successful outcome is very rewarding; it is proof that I can survive and?break through my limitations.? Meryl?s work focuses on a personal narrative and poses questions about the nature of existence.
Recent 2012 work from exhibition "Future Sailor" with LeBasse Projects, Los Angeles.
Exhibition Statement: "Future Sailor" is a commentary on universal connection – creating a discussion of beginnings and endings by introducing cyclical imagery and concepts of existence. Pataky blends psychological and biological themes to bring attention to a universal order and its unbreakable pattern. This order and connection is applied to the basic pattern of life and death and expands to include subjective ideas of emotion, relationships, language and experience.
Pataky combines a range of materials that tell a chronological story from their birthplace to their existence.
Each material is either elemental or organic and has been specifically chosen to represent organic life and its building blocks – the elements created in the universe. Elements such as helium, carbon, neon and iron are the few created during the life of a star and precious metals like silver, gold and copper are the most rare – forged only during a star's explosive death. Each of these core elements is employed throughout the works in the exhibition. The viewer will experience an eclectic mix of works from neon light and small metal sculpture to fibrous handmade paper and copper etching.
Each of the billions of stars in the universe follows the same pattern, from their birth to their death. Without this pattern, life would not exist. If our universe did not birth stars, there would be no light and no life. Consequently, our conscious and subconscious lives and emotions are a slave to an unseen and unbreakable pattern – a beginning and an ending. The artist states, "We are all fools on a journey, as in the tarot, and must be aware and tolerant of our limited knowledge of the immeasurable."
Made with only elemental materials - Argon, Carbon, Ferric (Steel), Mercury
24" x 48" copper etching of the Tarot Fool card. More information about materials and process and the meaning of The Fool at www.merylpataky.com
“He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not”
"Not" flickers as if going out.
The phases of the moon cut from reticulated silver (Reticulation creates texture on the surface of the metal reminiscent of the surface of the moon). More information about this piece at www.merylpataky.com
Made of entirely elemental materials: Ferric (Steel), Copper, Carbon and Lead
“The Fiber”
“Rorschach No. 1”
“Rorschach No. 2”
“The Fool”
“They Can't Blow Us Off Course, We've Got Compasses”
“Silver Moons”
“Lead Lungs”
“Dunce Love ”
“Self Portrait”
