R. Mertens

R. Mertens is an amateur historian, internet theorist, and film fanatic. His interests connect spiritualism, occult, conspiracies and scientific visual language. He also moonlights as an artist, curator and educator living in Virginia. His work revolves around the intersections between technology, religion, science and myth. These pieces combine new media with traditional fibers craft and culminate in performances, installations and powered sculptures. Mertens has previously been the director and founder of the Modular Project Space artist residency in Virginia, the 543 Artist Residency and Le Toilette Gallery in Oregon and the Weaving Room Recording Studio in Chicago IL. Currently, he is the director of the Fiber Art Department and an assistant faculty member at James Madison University in Virginia and the co-owner of Toothmark Studios.

Artist Statement

My research combines ideas of eschatology, acoustics, handcraft and loss; which I manifest in hybrid sculptures and installations. My practice is driven by concepts related to fragmentation, spirituality, repetition, pattern, interconnection and the emphasis of meaning found in craft processes. I search for broken narratives, end-time beliefs, quotidian gestures, textile structures, and the echo of entropy. In my work, I consider the shifting nature of craft and tradition by deconstructing ideas of progression and time. I often employ traditional craft techniques such as weaving, felting, quilting and hand embroidery and combine them with advanced prototyping technology such as laser-cutting, digital fabric printing, and digital Jacquard hand weaving. I triangulate between the poetics of electricity, the production of the hand and daydreams of dystopia. How does humanity perceive its relationship to technology changing? Why is string considered any different than 3D printing? What tension can be gleaned from understanding this perceived difference or continuous blurring?