Emmett Merrill
"Ghost Stories"
"Ghosts Stories" is an ongoing series of visual ghost stories, each image, in part exploring the theme of nature colliding with human made spaces. Nature, in this case, isn't just the idea of foliage, animals, or wide open landscapes, but also the presence of death.
In his study of Kentucky folklore, “Ghosts Along the Cumberland” William Montell describes a farm worker who claims to have come across the ghost of a cow he had put down the previous week. He sees it in the field, goes to get his family, and when they return, the cow is gone. That’s the end of the story. I think the works have a similar sense of "ghost story”. It isn’t really any kind of cautionary tale, but more a study of the moment between someone in their day to day life experiencing the absurd, in whatever form. Then, when they try and share it with someone else, that thing is gone.
"Mop Bucket" Lithograph on BFK, 22x15, 2022
"The Nightmare" Lithograph on BFK, 22x16, 2020
"Derivation of Ghost Stories" Lithograph on BFK, 22x15, 2020
"Down the Highway" Lithograph on BFK, 22x15, 2020
"New Years Eve" Lithograph on BFK, 22x15, 2021
"Airport Bar" Lithograph on BFK, 22x15, 2020
"bye." Lithograph on BFK, 13x20, 2022