Press Release - Not Long For This World by Meryl Pataky
pt.2
Not Long For This World
Meryl Pataky
Opening Reception: Saturday March 9th, 12-10pm.
Showing Through: Friday, April 5th, 2019
1523 b Webster St. Oakland, CA 94612
info@part2gallery.com
pt. 2 Gallery is proud to present Not Long For This World, a solo exhibition by Oakland-based sculptor Meryl Pataky. Simultaneously reflecting on her own childhood and desire for motherhood, Not Long for This World is a dystopian exploration of domestic life, our children, and our future.
Childlike flowers glow, drip, and melt into the gallery in both neon and paint, playing with light reflection and color on the walls’ surface before completely disappearing into the black carpeted floor. Instead of LED lamps, this “home” glows with bright greens, purples, and blues, overlaid with a sense of depreciation, suggesting the passage of time. Using her tar-dripping techniques, these works speak to what happens after the transformer dies, what happens after the power goes out, and what might happen to us as well.
This creates a tenuous balance, making us hyper-aware of passing time while drawing our attention to sensuous materials. According to the UN, we only have 12 years until we begin to experience catastrophic effects of climate change, so Pataky consciously uses plastic, glass, and other unsustainable materials, urging us to consider the future of our planet and how much actual time we have left.
Not Long for This World is a celebration of anxiety, with Pataky fully embracing these precarities. As a child, was put up for adoption and at 24, she lost her adoptive mother, both of which compound her own self-doubt regarding motherhood. By drawing flowers, something she did as a child, and then creating them in both neon and paint, she evokes her own history while growing into her future as an artist. Having always longed for a more organic process, she moves away from the structure of neon to the intuitive nature of painting.
In this body of work, Pataky imagines domesticity in a sincere and exciting way, breaking boundaries, using vibrant color, and addressing reality directly. This honest reflection on thoughtful parenthood, creating life in 2019 and the weird and wonderful adaptations that must accompany it. Not Long for This World asks us to revel in our anxieties and acclimatize to what may be on the horizon for us all, whether we like it or not.
Meryl Pataky will be hosting a guided tour for his solo exhibition at 4pm on Saturday, March 9th. pt.2 Gallery is located at 1523 b Webster St. and is just blocks away from both 12th & 19th St Bart Stations. Opening receptions at pt.2: are always free and open to the public. To receive a preview of the exhibition please contact info@part2gallery.com.
Bio
Originally from South Florida, Pataky moved to San Francisco in 2002 to attend the Academy of Art University. She fell in love with the tactile nature of sculpture and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture. An artist of many disciplines and mediums, Meryl focuses on the relationship between her own hands and material. Informing her material selection is a meditation on the elements of the periodic table from noble gases to metals and organics. She is aware of the history of her elements from their origins in the universe to their applications in culture and myth. The artist derives deeper meanings from these histories to add layers to her concepts. Both a personal and process driven narrative drive the work further forward.
