Merrill Wagner: Marking Time

David Zwirner is pleased to announce an exhibition of work by American artist Merrill Wagner (b. 1935) at the gallery’s 537 West 20th Street location in New York. Featuring sculptures, paintings, works on paper, and photographs spanning the 1960s to the 2010s, Marking Time will shed new light on the artist’s pioneering use of industrial and natural materials in her process-based approach, as well as her ongoing interest in the transformational effects of time. As the exhibition’s title suggests, Wagner’s practice is engaged with the recording of time in multiple registers. Working on a range of supports—including canvas, paper, slate, stone, and steel—the artist draws and paints directly on the surface of her works, which often show the effects of weathering and age. She allows pastel and paint to fade and mutate as they, in turn, mark the cyclical passing of the seasons. Through Wagner’s inventive yet subtle techniques of chromatic and textural juxtaposition, rough-hewn and unexpected surfaces are transformed into poetic meditations on the role of chance and entropy in the formation of built environments and the natural world. This will be the artist’s third solo show with David Zwirner, following presentations at 34 East 69th Street, New York, in 2022 and Hong Kong in 2024.