Marking a surface, as a system of communication, has lost little of its relevance today; the means may be more varied but the essence of the act remains fundamentally unchanged. Julie Merriman’s work is a continuation and a disruption of this process. It examines the history of mark making in the context of drawn, written and programmed language. Using present-day and historical data as research material, she investigates modes of inscription, replication and transmission.
Drawing is a tactile media, predominantly of the hands. Obsolete office copying materials are used to make the work; carbon paper, typewriter film and wax stencil paper. The binary nature of much of the work is the result of following the logic of these materials; the drawings explore the relation between the original and its copy, sharing characteristics and appearance with print. Now, foregrounding manual and mechanical mimeograph duplicators, print has become an active medium in her practice. She is currently exploring the book as a space of exhibition, a way to disseminate, promote and distribute artwork.
Recent: Arts Grant Award, Professional Development 2024, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. Interface Inagh International Residency 2023-Detroit Stockholm studio collective & artist-run gallery, Stockholm. Ports, Past and Present, 2020-23 University College Cork, Aberystwyth University, the University of Wales Trinity St David and Wexford County Council. Visual Arts Bursary, The Arts Council 2021. The Markievicz Award, 2020 The Arts Council on behalf of The Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Visual Arts Bursary, The Arts Council 2019. Solo exhibitions: attitude of a plane, Linenhall Arts Centre, Mayo 2023; Carriage Return, DLR Lexicon Gallery 2018; Revisions, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane 2016. Group exhibitions: A Line Around An Idea, a way of knowing through contemporary drawing practice, The Glucksman, Cork 2023; Connections, Boyle Arts Festival, 2023; EVA International 2018, Limerick City Gallery. Her work is in UCC art collection, The Glucksman, Cork; Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane’s collection, The National Drawing Collection, Limerick, The Arts Council of Ireland and other public and private collections.