Merrilee Challiss: Everything, Obliquely
February 7–March 1, 2014

Adams and Ollman is pleased to announce Everything, Obliquely, an exhibition of new works by Merrilee Challiss.

Challiss' intimate gouache and ink drawings are heavily influenced by the natural and spiritual worlds. Her animistic landscapes are populated with psychedelic plant forms, exotic creatures, corporeal masses and tricksters, as well eyes, auras, lips, tentacles, webs, blooms and lace. Her charged depictions of interior worlds navigate spirits, self-discovery and psychic journeys while overtly alluding to the artist's long-standing fascination with the female body, Native American imagery, folk art and Victorian handicrafts.

The artist's process – she begins to draw as ink spread across a surface, letting intuition guide her – calls to mind P.M. Wentworth, Joseph Yoakum and Shaker spirit drawings. Her mediumistic practice is based on creating, subverting and re-establishing order. The works that will be on view were inspired by her recent travels in Oregon, which also included her participation in Signal Fire, a short term residency connecting artists to the natural landscape of the Pacific Northwest.

Merrilee Challis lives and works in her hometown of Birmingham, Alabama. She is a graduate of the University of Alabama and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and co-founder of Bottletree and the Magic City Mural Collective. Challiss' work has been exhibited at Space 1026 (Philadelphia); Vox Populi (Philadelphia); The Front (New Orleans); Needles and Pens (San Francisco); as well as various institutions in Alabama including the University of Alabama, Birmingham and the Kentuck Art Center.

Merrilee Challiss
I’ll get there one day, 2013-2014
gouache and ink on paper
15 x 15 inches
MC 0001


Merrilee Challiss
Cycle of birth and decay, 2013-2014
gouache and ink on paper
15 x 15 inches
MC 0002


Merrilee Challiss
Eyeland, 2013-2014
gouache and ink on paper
12 x 12 inches
MC 0021


Merrilee Challiss
I majored in arcana, 2013-2014
gouache and ink on paper
15 x 15 inches
MC 0009


Merrilee Challiss
Clackabama, 2013-2014
gouache and ink on paper
15 x 15 inches
MC 0011


Merrilee Challiss
Goin’ on tour, 2013-2014
gouache and ink on paper
15 x 15 inches
MC 0013


Merrilee Challiss
Os West, 2014
ink and gouache on paper
29 3/4 x 42 inches
MC 0026


Merrilee Challiss
Hitachi for the win, 2013-2014
gouache and ink on paper
15 x 15 inches
MC 0012


Merrilee Challiss
Kundalini sigil, 2013-2014
gouache and ink on paper
15 x 15 inches
MC 0005