MEYOUWE: The Art of Mer Young

11/03/2017 | Sara McLean |

Los Angeles-based artist Mer Young recently showcased a series of collages and paintings at her solo exhibit titled "MEYOUWE" (me-you-we), which provided colorful highlights of Young's art and what drives her to keep creating exquisite and meaningful work. Born into a family of artists, Young grew up with an artistic side, which has grown into a wide range of artistic methods, including drawings, paintings, collages and public artworks. With a focus on human diversity, Young’s works are represented locally and internationally, showcasing her passion for the subject matter among infusions of color.

MEYOUWE
MEYOUWE is a recent solo exhibition of Young’s works, which commemorates women, embraces immigration and pays tribute to indigenous and native cultures. This collection celebrates women and explores adversities and social barriers to justice. Drawing inspiration from the Dunn-Edwards 2018 color+design Trend 4 Adventures story, Young captures the trend through her use of color and detail with her multi-colored patterns indicative of textile art term referred to as “crazy quilting.” Using this as a backdrop, Young incorporates the human figure to correlate the analogy to the fabrics and display how cultures and traditions cannot be made possible without humans.

Dunn-Edwards Color Palette Used

“The idea that quilts are made for various purposes, such as commemorating a major life event; how making a quilt is traditionally a communal activity; and the fact that quilts are made world-wide all left an impression on me. On an international scale, different cultures have their own take of how to make one and they come with many types of quilting styles and techniques," Young said. "Internalizing these ideas, I came up with a narrative that made comparisons between quilting fabrics and the relationship and characteristics that people have."

"Some fabrics, like people, overlap; some are too close; some are hanging on by a thread; some pieces are new and some are old; some are different colors, shape and sizes but — once they are all layered and sewn together — it creates one gorgeous spectacle, just as people do. I refer to the phrase 'The Fabric of Life,' where all the interweaving threads that make up the fabric are the individual and all other threads are everything else that contributes to one’s life and character.”