Merlin Carpenter (British, born )

Merlin Carpenter (British, b.1967) is a Contemporary artist, best known for conceptual paintings and installations that operate as blunt, antagonistic critiques of art world elitism and consumerism. Born in Pembury, Carpenter studied at Central Saint Martin’s in London between 1986 and 1989. He has had solo exhibitions at White Cube in London (2001), Galerie Christian Nagel in Cologne (2002, 2005, and 2008), Reena Spaulings Fine Art in New York (2005 and 2007), Galerie Mitterrand in Zürich (2008), Simon Lee in London (2009), and Dépendance in Brussels (2009), among others.

He lives and works in London.

Timeline

1967
Born in Pembury, Kent, Great Britain
1986–1989
Central Saint Martin’s School of Art, London
Lives in London and Berlin

Exhibitions

2011
TATE CAFÉ, Simon Lee Gallery, London, UK (solo)
2011
The Institute of Mental Health is Burning, Newport Museum and Art Gallery, Newport, UK
2011
Rituals of the Art World, Ludlow 38, New York, US
2011
Rebus, Simon Lee Gallery, London, UK
2011
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Galerie Reinhard Hauff, Stuttgart, Germany
2011
Heroes, MD 72, Berlin, Germany
2011
Overduin and Kite, Los Angeles, CA, USA (solo)
2010
Ballad in Narnia, The Interzone, London (with Richard Perry) (solo)
2010
Merlin Carpenter - Solo Show, Formalist Sidewalk Poetry Club, Miami, FL, USA (solo)
2010
Novel, Dépendance, Brussels, Belgium
2010
Barbaric Freedom, Simon Lee Gallery, London
2009
Sonic Youth etc.: Sensational Fix, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
2009
Galerie Christian Nagel, Berlin, Germany
2009
Simon Lee Gallery, London
2009
Sonic Youth etc.: Sensational Fix, Malmö Konsthall, Sweden
2009
Untitled (History Painting), University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, USA
2009
RN IHRE ARBEIT, Galerie Sandra Bürgel, Berlin (show by Instituto Diverciado)
2009
The Opening, Simon Lee Gallery, London, UK (solo)
2009
The Opening, Dependances, Brussels, Belgium (solo)
2008
The Opening, Galerie Mitterrand + Sanz, Zürich (solo)
2008
The Opening, Galerie Christian Nagel, Berlin (at Mercedes-Welt am Salzufer & The Corner Berlin) (solo)
2008
The Opening, Overduin and Kite, Los Angeles, CA, USA (solo)
2008
The Coma Lounge Edinburgh, The Collective Gallery, Edinburgh
2008
Congratulations You Are Represented by Nang Gallery, Nang Gallery, London
2008
Sonic Youth etc.: Sensational Fix, Museion, Bolzano, Italy
2008
Painting: Now and Forever, Part II, Greene Naftali Gallery/Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2008
How Can You Represent When You Can't Pay The Rent, The New Dome, Cable St. Studios, London
2008
Zodiac 3000, International Project Space, Birmingham, UK
2008
DO WHAT THEY WILLT, Nang Gallery, London
2007
Élégance, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne
2007
Genesis I'm Sorry, Greene Naftali Gallery, New York (in collaboration with Melanie Gilligan)
2007
The Opening, Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York, NY, USA (solo)
2007
Relax It's Only a Bad Cosima von Bonin Show, Galerie Bleich-Rossi, Vienna, Austria (solo)
2006
Sounds of War, Galere Edward Mitterrand, Geneva (solo)
2006
LIVE HUMANS, The George Tavern, London
2006
Make Your Own Life, Institute of Contemporary Art University of Pennsylvania, Philidelphia, PA, USA
2006
slow burn (curated by Jonah Freeman), Galerie Edward Mitterrand, Geneva
2005
A Roaring RAMPAGE of Revenge, Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York, NY, USA (solo)
2005
Galerie Christian Nagel, Cologne (solo)
2005
Look What You Made Me Do, Nergen Kunsthall, Norway (solo)
2005
Orchard, New York, NY, USA
2005
The Top Room: A Retrospective, Chelsea Space, London
2005
TOTAL ASBO, Pogo Cafe, London
2005
Miradas y conceptos en la colección Helga de Alvear, MEIAC, Badajoz, Spain
2005
Islands of Glory in Streets Caked with the Fæces of Decadence, Nang Gallery, London
2004
Werkleitz Biennale, Halle, Germany
2004
Edge of the Real, Whitechapel Gallery, London
2004
Nueva Generación, Distrito 4, Madrid, Spain (solo)
2004
Take It Easy Default, M-Project, Paris, France (solo)
2003
Children of the Projects, American Fine Arts, Co., New York, NY, USA (solo)
2003
Wild Nights: Remembering Colin de Land, CB's 313 Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2003
Messe in der Galerie, Galerie Christian Nagel, Cologne
2002
The Making of !945, 1997(screening)
The McAllister Institute, New York, USA
2002
Militant
Galerie Christian Nagel, Cologne, Germany
2001
My Father, the Castaway
White Cube, Kunstakademi Bergen, Norway
2000
When You Drain the Pool, You Don't Consult the Frogs First
Magnani, London, England
2000
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin, Germany
2000
As a Painter I Call Myself the Estate of
Secession, Vienna, Austria (catalogue)
2000
VOLVO
Galerie Bleich-Rossi, Graz, Austria
1999
Survivors
Galerie Christian Nagel, Cologne, Germany
1998
Doppelganger
The Top Room, London, England
1998
Chant No 1
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin, Germany
1996
Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York, USA
1995
Voluntary Effort
Tom Solomon's Garage, Los Angeles, USA (catalogue)
1994
Friedrich Petzel/Nina Borgmann, New York, USA
1993
Les Jeunes
Bruno Brunnet Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany
1993
Meet You by the Strange Twisted Old Oak Tree on the Secluded Knoll at Dawn in Your Swimming Trunks and I'll Tell You Something Secret.(Don't Be Late).,
With Nils Norman, Galerie Z, Göttingen, Germany (catalogue)
1992
Meadow/Wiese
Galerie Max Hetzler, Cologne, Germany
1991

Pavillon Ryszard Varisella, organised by Galerie Grässlin-Ehrhardt, Frankfurt, Germany
1991
To the extreme
Fettstrasse 7A (Birgit Küng), Zürich, Switzerland
1990
Crusade
Münzstrasse 10, Hamburg, Germany

Literature

2010
Merlin Carpenter - Social Aesthetics, The Institute of Social Hypocrisy #3
2001
Jewels-in-Art
(with Jeremy Glogan, Jospehine Pryde and Sarah Staton), Galerie Bleich-Rossi, Graz
2000
As a Painter I Call Myself the Estate of
Secession, Vienna
1995
Voluntary Effort
For exhibition at Tom Solomon's Garage, Los Angeles
1993
Meet You by the Strange Twisted Old Oak Tree on the Secluded Knoll at Dawn in Your Swimming Trunks and I'll Tell You Something Secret


Published by MC and Nils Norman for fictional exhibition at Galerie Z, Göttingen
English (US)

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