Grounded Rainbow • 2015 •
Beacon Building • 427 Main Street
Grounded Rainbow is part of my current body of work exploring the origins of power and how we often create and support the systems that aid in our own oppression/libertation. Each piece is, in part, a monument to the human condition using the language of architecture. With my materials I aim to capture the energy of movement, a moment in time – as if to preserve a tiny portion of a life in order to keep it from being forgotten. This piece in particular is a monument to the child’s imagination and all the hopes and aspirations encompassed within it. It reaches toward the sky with a sense of fearlessness and possibility, yet at the same time it is grounded – with the realities of our world and the complexities of human existence. How these dreams and challenges are deciphered will ultimately determine what that child becomes.
Lori Merhige was born in 1975 in Teaneck, New Jersey. She earned a BFA in Illustration from The School of Visual Arts in 1999. In 2009 she received her MFA in Sculpture from CUNY Hunter College and was a recipient of the Tony Smith Award. She lives and works in Beacon, New York.