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Sikkema Malloy Jenkins is pleased to announce Hobby Horse, a solo show of paintings by Merlin James, on view from February 21 through April 5, 2025. A public opening reception for the exhibition will be held at the gallery on Friday, February 21, from 6–8pm.
The exhibition title refers to a motif seen in several works, of a small child in a cowboy outfit, riding a hobby horse. Imagery in James's work, while sometimes suggestive of personal associations or memories, often relates metaphorically to the nature of painting itself. In the classic 1951 essay ‘Meditations on a Hobby Horse,’ E. H. Gombrich examines the way a child’s hobby horse “represents” or otherwise corresponds to a real horse, and uses the discussion to illuminate how illusion, abstraction, expression, meaning, and value all function in works of art. James explores similar concerns, and his hobby horse rider perhaps stands, in more ways than one, for the artist.
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Press Release
Sikkema Malloy Jenkins is pleased to announce Hobby Horse, a solo show of paintings by Merlin James, on view from February 21 through April 5, 2025. A public opening reception for the exhibition will be held at the gallery on Friday, February 21, from 6–8pm.
The exhibition title refers to a motif seen in several works, of a small child in a cowboy outfit, riding a hobby horse. Imagery in James's work, while sometimes suggestive of personal associations or memories, often relates metaphorically to the nature of painting itself. In the classic 1951 essay ‘Meditations on a Hobby Horse,’ E. H. Gombrich examines the way a child’s hobby horse “represents” or otherwise corresponds to a real horse, and uses the discussion to illuminate how illusion, abstraction, expression, meaning, and value all function in works of art. James explores similar concerns, and his hobby horse rider perhaps stands, in more ways than one, for the artist.
Another element appearing in...More