Merion Estes

Painter

Merion Estes “Los Alamos Sunset”

Merion Estes states: The beauty and fragility of life and the tragedy of man’s intervention is my subject. The tools of her trade have included fabric, glue, acrylic and spray paints, glitter, photo downloads and paper, gradually moving almost exclusively to the use of collaged fabrics and photos, with hand painting assuming much less importance. At first glance we are seduced by the beauty of her work. Closer inspection reveals a worrisome sense of man’s depredation of the natural world. Titles of these large pieces both hint at and expand on meaning. Consider Los Alamos Sunset, its vibrant colors and swirling butterflies almost but not quite covering the all-too familiar outline of nuclear power plants and a stylized explosion of red and orange and yellow. Merion was a founding member of Double X, a women’s art group, and a consistent champion of women’s issues. In a recent exhibit at The Pasadena Museum of California Art, The Feminine Sublime, Merion’s work was described as a counter-narrative that upends previous ideas of the sublime in painting with a unique feminist perspective.

Merion’s documentation took place in 2018 and was sponsored by Ted & Joyce Lombard. The AfterGLOW was hosted by Edy & Sal Santangelo.

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