Emmett Merrill

The Shadow

2023

Kansas City, Missouri-born artist Emmett Merrill holds a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA from the University of Tennessee - Knoxville, and while he is new to the Main Gallery at Sager Reeves, his work has been exhibited and collected across the country. His pieces as anecdotes become a form of modern mythology. The imagery in this work comments on the culture of the American highway, comparing it to purgatory (existing between two destinations), and the transient liberation of operating in a space as a stranger. Because of the multiple nature of lithography (a printmaking process that allows multiple impressions to be taken from a drawing made on a piece of limestone), even the prints themselves can be disseminated, traveling with people and existing in more than one place at any time, to be perpetually reinterpreted and discussed. Emmett Merrill is an independent artist-printmaker hailing from Kansas City, MO. His work uses lithography to explore topics including ghost stories, the American Highway system, and art history. He is a collaborator with artist collective and fine art print shop, Grafik House, where he self publishes his work. Merrill received his BFA in printmaking from the Kansas City Art Institute and his MFA from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His work is included in numerous public and private collections in the U.S. and internationally, most notably the Library of Congress and the China Printmaking Museum.