COLUMBUS MUSEUM OF ART FOR LOVE OR MONEY
 
First are words -words gathered into lists, or phrases -words written across paper -words carved into, onto, or out of wood -words painted on canvas -words high up, encircling a room -words etched into silver -words projected (or not) onto a wall The text in some of these works originates from spiritual or biblical sources. But these sources, in some ways, are not significant. What the work becomes is more important than what it comes from. Words are materialized. Text is made physical. Let me be straightforward. Is a line of written text not also a line drawn? In Reward, the line drawn across the (wall)paper reads: Sixty One Thousand Six Hundred and Six Gold Dollars. It is a line taken from a letter I did not write. The letter was written in 1848 by a dead Shaker sister named Ann Lee, to a community of her living disciples in New Lebanon, NY. The line in the letter, like the line on the wallpaper, presents a large sum of money. It might be considered a check. But drawn on whose account? MICHAEL MERCIL Related articles and writings Gentile, Jordan. “Sparse Second Gallery has Mercil’s Best Work.” The Other Paper (24-30 November 2005) p. 14. Hall, Jaqueline. “Viewers Might Take Mercil at his Word.” Columbus Dispatch (27 November 2005) p. G4. Houston, Joe. for love or money: Michael Mercil (exhibition brochure). 2005. Columbus, OH. Columbus Museum of Art. Starr, Ann. “Mystery Man.” Columbus Monthly (February 2006) pp. 67-69. Zollinger-Turner, Tracy. “Words From Above.” alive, music, art and culture in Columbus (23 November 2005) p. 22. ARTWORK Read More