Guttenberg Arts Gallery is pleased to present “They Coming”, a solo exhibition of works by Jeffery Meris, currently an Artist in Residence, on view July 10 through August 1, 2016. Opening reception on Sunday, July 10th at 7pm.
The sponge is porous, walls permeable. They Coming is the product of Jeffrey Meris’ continued investigation and interest with economies of migration, real estate, bodies, space and identity. Through the use of constructed, found, ready-‐made and assembled objects, Meris alludes to a certain level of geopolitical permeability. They Coming is heavily shaped by Meris’ upbringing as a migrant from Haiti -‐living in the Bahamas-‐ where ‘they coming’ was more than often a derogatory slur to both indict the peasant like status of Haitian migrants and also reinforce the sub‐humanness of that community. ‘They’ assumes an ambiguous identity fluxing between the luxury tourist, the alien or the immigration officer. Coming from where? Going to where?
Jeffery Meris earned his BFA in Sculpture at the Tyler School of Art. Meris has exhibited work at Hilger BrotKunsthalle in Vienna, Austria; D’Agulair Art Foundation in Nassau, Bahamas and the Stella Elkins Gallery in Philadelphia, PA to name a few. Meris has also been a recipient of the J Arthur Khuen Kyrk Award and the Sculpture Project Award among others. His work can be found in the Dawn Davies Collection, the Diagulair Art Foundation and the Central Bank of the Bahamas Collection.
