Tanya Merrill's Animal Instinct
After a move upstate and a newborn, Merrill’s new work responds to the world around her.
Tanya Merrill's new exhibition, Land animal, house animal, features oil-and-graphite paintings that explore the profound impact of moving from New York City to upstate New York on her artistic perspective. The relocation led to the birth of her daughter, which served as a catalyst for a shift in her artistic worldview. Merrill challenges the prevailing anthropocentric view that places humans above animals, instead foregrounding local animals as sentient beings with their own motivations and desires.
In her works, she depicts a cat, a dairy cow, and a Northern harrier, a bird that she frequently observes from her studio. The Northern harrier painting, titled "Marsh hawk," showcases the bird's piercing eyes and luscious gray, white, and black feathers, drawing parallels to regional folk art and the works of John James Audubon.
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