TURN Gallery is pleased to present Merrick Adams SOFT STARS HARD THUNDER opening Wednesday September 13th, 2023. This marks Adams’ New York solo debut.

Merrick Adams’ ocean scapes conjure an abstraction of light and the unknown through his merging of family history, nature and method. Raised by a fisherman and surfer, bodies of water simultaneously grant Adams the awareness of familiarity and chance to explore the concealed and the sublime. Through his study of reductive woodcuts and silkscreen and the application of netting as a matrix, Adams’ surfaces emerge from a meticulous layering of paint. Unmeasurable depths and pungent colors glow in echo as a fisherman’s tool in the sea becomes that which creates the expanse of ocean in Adams’ studio. Immediately recognizable depictions of sun or moon rays reflected in the water’s surface expand into a hypnotic tangle of rippling lines and segments of color rising and falling alive and in motion with intimate inspection. As the setting for his exploration of the unseen, each painting becomes a silent meditation, an opportunity for the artist and viewer to look inside, diving into an environment far larger than oneself. Adams’ balancing of gesture and chance creates uninterrupted spaces which resonate the relationship between beauty and tragedy in nature. Using the ocean as metaphor for consciousness, Adams’ paintings plunge the viewer into the depths of the unknown and then bring us to our surface.

Merrick Adams received his MFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 2020 and holds a bachelors degree in Fine Art, with a concentration in Printmaking, from East Carolina University. Solo exhibitions include Scott Miller Projects in Birmingham, Alabama. Adams has participated in group exhibitions at The Pit, Los Angeles, CA; Kutlesa Gallery, Arth, Switzerland; Tyler Parks Presents, Los Angeles, CA; TURN Gallery, New York, NY; Blue Door Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; My Pet Ram Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA; and among others. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

SOFT STARS HARD THUNDER will open Wednesday, September 13th from 6 - 8 pm. The show will be on view until October 21st. We are located on the 2nd floor of 32 East 68th Street NY, NY 10065. The gallery is open Wednesday - Saturday 12 - 6pm. For further information, contact Annika at ap@turngallerynyc.com.