Lydia Merrett

Lydia Merrett, Forever, 2024, Oil on canvas, 100 x 70cm

LKIF Gallery is pleased to announce Changing States, the first solo exhibition in Asia of British artist Lydia Merrett (b.1994).

Lydia Merrett, Husband Material, 2024, Oil on canvas, 100 x 70 cm

Merrett’s paintings center around the experiences of womanhood in contemporary society while incorporating personal narratives into her work. The exhibition features 10 of her most recent works including paintings, drawings, and a monotype. With vibrant, saturated colors, and bold brushstrokes, her body of work delves into various states of mind in female experiences.

Lydia Merrett, Off To The Ritz, 2024, Oil on canvas, 100 x 70 cm

Drawing plays the vital role of the development of the artist’s practice. She has this routine of drawing as a warm-up. It is her way of loosening up, getting closer to the final imagery before she moves on to the canvas, and allowing her swim freely while painting. It seems this process has a lot in common with sports in that she wears working clothes and goes through physical and mental practice, which explains why she was inspired by female sporting athletes in her previous works portraying women as active and dynamic subjects. Now Merrett focuses on a broader experience of womanhood as an aspect of the individual internal journey, representing various significant stages of change encountered throughout women’s lives.

Lydia Merrett, Lydia (Painter’s Jeans), 2023, Oil on canvas, 117 x 96 cm

The self-portrait of the artist, Lydia (Painter’s Jeans) is one of the representative works encompassing the central theme of this exhibition. Documenting her change into work clothes at her studio, this work is conceptually tied to the other works. “Clothing” is the leitmotif in her practice exploring on both mental and physical changes, which inform a series of works—Forever, Off To The Ritz, and Husband Material. She utilizes clothing to encapsulate the transformation into various states of mind along with significant events in one’s life story triggering the viewer’s own interpretations and associations.

Lydia Merrett, Women, 2024, Oil on canvas, 110 x 85 cm

As the concept of womanhood finds itself deeply in Merrett’s artistic oeuvre, the artist infuses her own experience as herself and a female artist. The largest painting featured in the exhibition, Near and Far depicts the central figure and her seemingly new born child in a stroller with her. The scene is not strictly bound to its title and open for interpretation, though it suggests Merrett’s interest in woman’s life and poses questions on life-altering stages.

This exhibition Changing States represents the journey of life in general, and pinpoints various moments one is going through personally, inviting the viewer to contemplate their place in life.

LKIF GALLERY
2F 36-63 Hannam-daero 27-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Korea
02-794-5557

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