Mia Merlin is a figurative oil painter who lives and works in Atlanta, GA. Her paintings are an attempt to slow down time and notice the complex way things are in relation, both contradictory and harmoniously. They explore the dynamics tensions of: vulnerability and strength, animal nature and civility, present and past, mundane and sublime.
Currently she is a visiting Lecturer at Georgia State University. She has been an instructor at Spelman College, Kennesaw State University and Emory University as well. Merlin’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in exhibitions juried shows and museums. In 2010 Merlin’s painting was selected as part of an exhibit in the US Embassy in Vatican City. This same year she had two solo exhibitions with the Georgia Fine Arts Academy in Atlanta and Athens, GA. Her solo exhibition “Birthday Party” was rated among the top 10 art shows of the year by Atlanta’s art magazine, Creative Loafing. Other venues include Fiat Lux, a nationally juried show sponsored by the Phillips Collection, Art at Play at The Huntsville Museum of Art in Alabama and the Rosenthal International Juried Exhibition where she won Best in Show. Recently, her work was published in the “Menninger Perspective,” an international journal for the Menninger psychiatric clinic.
“The process of painting allows me to appreciate the world and to experience its complexity and mystery. Painting is about creating illusion and our personal relationship with vision and memory. There is a hidden tenderness to things that I am drawn to and try to make visible in my paintings.
In my most recent work I focus on scenes in my neighborhood and home as a way of noticing the beauty in everyday moments, and in the impermanent, flickering nature of things. I am highly influenced by the post-impressionist fascination with light, revealing the painting process and capturing emotional atmosphere.”
Website
http://www.miamerlin.com
