Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/126231
The beauty of the banal: Leigh Merrill Because: She's the Edward Hopper of the parking lot, but in lieu of a paintbrush, Merrill packs video and still cameras. Her subjects — prosaic malls, vernacular architecture, strips of convenience stores, low-rent restaurants, colorful bodegas — are hauntingly devoid of inhabitants, yet imbued with messages served up via ubiquitous signage. After snapping, she skillfully rearranges reality in her computer and recently added the plaintive call of the mockingbird to her videos, which demand close attention. Suites of streetscapes: Her latest, the intriguingly titled "Manifest Destiny," was showcased at the posh Hotchkiss School's Tremaine Gallery in Connecticut earlier this spring. Meanwhile, Merrill's creative calendar is brimming with upcoming group exhibitions and screenings from Brussels to Milwaukee. Catch her current two-person show at Swarm Gallery in Oakland, California (through June 9), and a solo at Women and Their Work in Austin, on the books for fall. Represented by Stafford Contemporary, Albany, New York. Stella McCartney blazer $1,795, fringe-front top $365, and trousers $595, all at the Stella McCartney boutique, Forty Five Ten, Neiman Marcus, Tootsies. Way beyond craft: Justin Ginsberg Because: His ground-breaking interventions with glass into architectural structures — hair-fine filaments of silica threads inserted across cavernous rooms of oft abandoned industrial buildings — are poetic, heroic and poignant. Now, Ginsberg pushes the envelope even further by adding video, public staging, collaboration and the birth of a scintillating platform/grassroots hybrid, Apophenia Underground, co-founded by fellow provocateur, artist Jeff Gibbons, which promises to reconfigure forever the concept of happenings in Dallas. The open road and shop windows for all: With Apophenia Underground rolling out a robust lineup in Deep Ellum's vacant storefronts this spring of avant-garde solos, group views and even a sound installation and text creations plastered down the side of a building (details apopheniaunderground.com), Ginsberg is also contemplating a twomonth road trip through the continental U.S. come summer. Again pairing with Gibbons, the duo will be burying artworks everywhere they go and documenting this unorthodox, yet captivating construct. This month, RO2 Project Space rolls out "Mesophase," featuring Ginsberg's personal creations in video, glass and new installation art (May 3 – June 1). Represented by RO2 Art, Dallas, and Hempel Design, Houston. Viktor & Rolf shirt $395, at Forty Five Ten. Balenciaga gabardine trousers $445, at Forty Five Ten.