Meridith McNeal
Inside Outside Windowphilia
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Artist Statement
Three things want a frame to give them structure: a painting, a story, and a window. All take different kinds of framing, of course, but the concept is similar: physical or abstract, a frame implies a viewpoint. It is where you start from.
Where you end up, on the other hand, is another matter entirely, because frames—for paintings, for stories, or for windows—are not so simple. They are points of entry that at the same time throw up barriers and define boundaries: the viewer is on one side or the other. A frame simultaneously organizes, invites, points the way, and separates.
Windows, in particular, invite a multiplicity of meanings. Add a reflective surface, so light can work its magic, and you bring a sort of graceful confusion: what is on one side can coexist with what is on the other, the space behind and before the viewer overlaid. Where you have been shows itself side by side with where you are, or where you may yet be going.
Where you end up, on the other hand, is another matter entirely, because frames—for paintings, for stories, or for windows—are not so simple. They are points of entry that at the same time throw up barriers and define boundaries: the viewer is on one side or the other. A frame simultaneously organizes, invites, points the way, and separates.
Windows, in particular, invite a multiplicity of meanings. Add a reflective surface, so light can work its magic, and you bring a sort of graceful confusion: what is on one side can coexist with what is on the other, the space behind and before the viewer overlaid. Where you have been shows itself side by side with where you are, or where you may yet be going.
Meridith McNeal is a Brooklyn-based artist represented by Figureworks Gallery in NYC. She has been a frequent Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome. Her work has received numerous awards. Most recently Meridith was honored as a 2020 Artists of the Year by the Circle Foundation for the Arts, Lyon, France. Meridith regularly exhibits her artwork throughout the US and abroad. Her exhibition Graceful Confusion will be on view at Magazzino Gallery, Palazzo Polignac, Venice, Italy in spring 2020.
