Betty Merken

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Local Artist

"Color, materiality and luminosity continue to be the conceptual foundations and the building blocks of my aesthetic of intimate minimalism, reflecting my interest in the architectural and in geometric abstraction. Driven by the freedom to question, “What constitutes a print?”, I explore the boundaries of traditional printmaking through a painter’s printmaking process of monotype, where I apply oil-based printmaking inks directly on to metal plates. Each monotype, or unique print, is individually inked with oil-based printmaking ink and run through the press one time. The freedom of the monotype process is the brainchild of my Slab Sculptures as well, in which hundreds of slabs of hand-torn printmaking paper are heavily inked on both sides, run through the press, and then constructed into various architectural configurations.

I am deeply engrossed in the power of color to evoke emotion, to echo sense of place, and to encourage contemplation. I strive to create works which have a sense of inevitability about them and which reveal a sense of oneness with the viewer."

- Betty Merken
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Biography

Betty Merken is an American painter and printmaker based in Seattle, Washington. She is an accomplished artist who has had over 100 solo and group exhibitions in the United States, Japan, China, and Italy. Merken's work can be found in the permanent collections of the UCLA Hammer Museum, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Portland Art Museum, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, the Long Beach Museum of Art, and the Civita Institute in Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy.

Betty Merken co-authored Wall Art, Megamurals and Supergraphics (Philadelphia: Running Press, 1987) with Stefan Merken. She has been honored with awards and fellowships from the BAU Institute in Otranto, Italy and New York (2010 and 2012), The Civita Institute, Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy, and Seattle (2011), and the Pinea-Linea de Costa Artist International (2017) in Cadiz, Spain.

Curators and critics often characterize Merken’s one of a kind, unique prints as having the authority of paintings and have placed her work within the context of the work of Josef Albers, Piet Mondrian, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, Donald Judd, and James Turrell, defining her position within the context of modern and contemporary art.
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Illumination, Ultramarine by Betty Merken - Davidson Galleries
Illumination, Pink Sapphire by Betty Merken - Davidson Galleries