Merrill Wagner’s wall-mounted compositions live as much within the negative spaces as the positives. Her Flowers are simultaneously quietly meditative and stridently urban – smooth curves and soft colors contrast richly with the sharp edges of heavy raw steel. Like folded paper, her simplified forms capture essential aspects of the source, yet do not rely overly much on their namesakes. The work functions both figuratively and as an abstract composition focused on rhythm, pattern and movement transmitted through the use of purposeful, unequally weighted negative spaces.
