Russo Lee Gallery is pleased to present Split Decisions by Betty Merken. The works in this exhibition are formal inquiries investigating the nature of color and light within the artist’s distinctive painting and printmaking processes. At once ethereal and architectural, these highly chromatic works explore the fugitive qualities of color, light and human perception. Merken is deeply engaged by the power of color to evoke emotion, to echo a sense of place, and to encourage contemplation. 

Betty Merken is a Seattle based painter and printmaker who has had over 100 solo and group exhibitions in the United States, Italy, Japan, and China. She is a recipient of several awards and fellowships, including from the BAU Institute in Otranto, Italy, The Civita Institute in Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy and Seattle, and the Pinea-Linea de Costa Artist International Residency in Cadiz, Spain. She has been selected for one-month workshops with master printers at Crown Point Press, Publisher of Fine Art Etchings, San Francisco. Merken’s work can be found in the permanent collections of the UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon, the Jordan Schnitzer Collection, Eugene, Oregon, the Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA, the Civita Institute, Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy, and in numerous public and private collections worldwide.