Artists VOLTA NY 2008
Presented by: Wohnmaschine
1961, Chemnitz, Germany
Florian Merkel takes part in VOLTA NY Special Projects
Lobby Mural : Exceedingly Active People, 2008, acrylic on canvas, 118 inches x 148 inches
VOLTA NY Edition: 4 Original paintings Resisting and Reflecting
20 x 27 inches, acrylic on canvas
Florian Merkel’s pictorial compositions depict persons in various action and behavior patterns that can be related to social realities and psychic or emotional sensibilities. The designs are based on photographs that are linearly traced – the photographic basis guarantees the figures’ individual concreteness and their motion-sequences. Merkel accentuates the physical sensuality and the vital energy of the actors. Figures in lightning colors roam through his pictorial cosmos. They explode the boundaries of the image through their voluminous corporeality and their expansive movements in order to passionately and energetically push forward into the space. By means of glances and gestures they encourage each other to partake in dramatic situations and rituals that come to a head and even to find an attitude in this scenic play. Tensions, hierarchies, and conflicts are played out by means of paralingual gesticulations. Through his pictures or figures he transforms the viewer’s space into an experimental laboratory for communicative strategies and human manners. Florian Merkel visualizes in this way aspects of our social reality in a concentrated form.
“exceedingly active people”, 3 m x 3,75 m, 2008
”resisting and reflecting“, 50 cm x 70 cm, edition of 4, 2008
Text: Dr. Christoph Kivelitz
 Florian Merkel, Exceedingly Active People, 2008, acrylic on canvas, 118 inches x 148 inches |