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Merrill Kazanjian

Freeport, New York, United States

Documentary Experimental Animation Urban Art Stickers Political Art Photography Painting Mixed Media Graffiti Computer Animation

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About

I do what my Rice Krispies tell me to do! Its that simple! Well...Kind of. I have a wide range of interests (art, baseball, history, economics, nutrition, science, technology) which stimulate me and "keep me asking questions". I strive for my work to be relevant, honest and as funny as inhaling laughing gas while being tickled at a comedy club! My work draws upon my experiences over the course of my life and is a bi-product of my experiences, in the same way that digestion is a direct result of eating. For the past eight years, I have taught art in schools in Harlem and the South Bronx and my technique was created out of a need that arose in my classroom. Forty five minute periods is not enough time to teach painting. So I switched my painting supplies from traditional supplies, to paint markers to eliminate the set up and clean up. After witnessing the success that my students were having, I decided to push the technique even further, while working in my studio. I learned that mixing color pencils with a “blender” (on top of the opaque layers of the paint markers) marker allows an artist to mimic the effects of glazed oil paint. I incorporated media “cut outs” and printed images in my work. And I found that paint markers were ideal to tie everything together. Finally I learned that scanning my images on to a computer will allow me to edit my “characters” and add crazy effects such as juxtaposing images on top of my creations. The computer also enables me to use the medium that I am most familiar with; oil paint. I usually print my compositions on canvas ( I order an non varnished giclee print) and lay down the finishing touches in oil paint. I take pride in having a different approach but it would be dishonest for me to state that I do not have aesthetic influences. I love the characters of Hieronymus Bosch and John Currin and the compositions of Romare Bearden and Red Grooms. I love Andy Warhol’s dark humor and how he mass produced his “characters” (A timely parody of America during its peak years of manufacturing). I have “borrowed” elements of the artists listed above and “merged” them with my own knowledge and ideas. I have created over 500 “characters” in 2008. Each character has one pose (with the exception of my animations) and are interchangeable in my compositions. I juxtapose my characters where I feel that they “fit”. Some characters have been used only once and some have been used dozens of times. I strive for each character to become iconic and to make my work easily identifiable. Some characters are actual people (friends of mine or well known celebrities) and some are created as caricatures based upon people that I have interacted with in life situations.