Asteroid Horizon by Heather Merckle
July 6 - 27 | Opening reception: July 13, 6-8 PM
NARS Main Gallery
Nighttime For Strangers, curated by Susan Klein, brings together the work of Skye Gilkerson, Heather Merckle, and Holly Veselka. These artists address the way we treat nature as an other that can to be enjoyed, constructed, feared, and fetishized. They question notions of control: while we may colonize nature, it also holds the power to colonize us. The work focuses on darkness and vastness, incorporating visions of nighttime, space, and time.
Susan Klein (b. 1979, Morristown, NJ) is an artist and curator living in Charleston, SC. She has exhibited her work both nationally and internationally, most recently at The Halsey Institute for Contemporary Art, Charleston, SC, Trestle Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Tapir Gallery, Berlin, and Crossing Collective Gallery in New York. Awards include a full fellowship to the Vermont Studio Center, an Ox-bow Artist in Residence Fellowship, and residencies at The Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY, The International Studio and Curatorial Program, Brooklyn, NY, and Arteles Creative Research Center, Finland. Currently she is Assistant Professor of Art at the College of Charleston.
Skye Gilkerson’s work has been shown internationally and across the United States at the South Dakota Art Museum, the Contemporary Museum of Baltimore, the Temple University Gallery in Philadelphia, and FLAG Foundation in New York. She was awarded a Chenven Foundation Grant, a Smack Mellon Studio Fellowship, and Artist Residency Grants with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Vermont Studio Center, the Anderson Ranch Arts Center, and the La Napoule Art Foundation. Gilkerson’s 2016 solo exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art was named one of the Top Ten Art Shows of the Year and group exhibitions have been twice listed as Must-See Art Events, by Art F-City. Her work is featured in Learning to Love You More by Harrell Fletcher and Miranda July, and is in the Robert L. Pfannebecker Collection, the Vanderbilt University Collection, and many personal collections in the US and Germany.
Heather Merckle (b. 1982, Lancaster, OH) is a Brooklyn based artist whose undergraduate studies began at the University of Cincinnati in 2000. In 2003, Merckle was awarded a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship and studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in London, England. She received her BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2004. Merckle has exhibited internationally in Berlin, Reykjavík and London. Recent exhibitions include SPRING/BREAK Art show 2018 and “Wave Pool” at Field Projects Gallery, NY. Her work is part of the permanent collection at Park Towne Place in Philadelphia, PA. Merckle has been featured in several publications including Dave Bown Projects 12th semiannual competition, New American Paintings Issues 77 and 83, Studio Visit magazine Volume 7, FreshPaint Magazine Issues 10 and 13 and MAAKE magazine Issue 6. She has been an artist in residence with the Institut für Alles Mögliche, Berlin, DE, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA, Outpost Artist Resources, NY and SIM in Reyjavík, IS.
Holly Veselka (b. 1981, Houston, TX) is a multidisciplinary artist who makes sculptures, installations, and archives about perception and the natural world. Holly has exhibited her work internationally and has received recognitions including Creative Capital’s 2016 On Our Radar and a 2015 Puffin Foundation Artist Grant. Holly has participated in residencies at the Lower East Side Studio Program, New York, NY; Otis College, Los Angeles, CA; PICTURE BERLIN, Berlin, Germany, and ACRE, Steuben, WI. Holly is an Assistant Professor at Texas State University in the School of Art and Design where she teaches Studio Art Foundations.