BACK ROOM: October 1-November 27, 2021
Jill McLennan: Migration
Oct. 1 – Nov. 27, 2021
For Migration, Jill McLennan has created a set of prints of animals and humans migrating in unusual circumstances. The first print was inspired by the story of a child soldier from Yemen who escaped to North Africa on a rowboat with a cow. The tale led McLennan to a deeper investigation of animals being transported and used as transportation. McLennan’s work looks towards a future where humans and animals live in balance.
Cathy Perillo: Plein-Air Painting
Oct. 1 – Nov. 27, 2021
Mercury 20 is pleased to present the work of guest artist, Cathy Perillo, a plein-air painter producing small gouache and oil paintings directly from her experience in the landscape. Perillo’s show Plein-Air Paintings includes a new series of oils painted this summer while visiting Acadia National Park. The view depicts Cadillac Mountain across Frenchman’s Bay in Sullivan, Maine.
Cathy Perillo works from her studio in San Francisco’s Bayview Hunters’ Point Shipyard, where she creates expressionist works based on her outdoor sketches. Perillo received her BFA from Boston University and MFA from the University of California, Berkeley. Her work is held in collections in the U.S., Switzerland and Germany.
Leah Virsik: Intimate Connections
Oct. 1 – Nov. 27, 2021
To create Intimate Connections, a new series of wall-hanging sculptures, Leah Virsik worked with standard sheets of paper that she treated with konnyaku starch to make momigami, or kneaded paper. Traditionally used in Japan to make clothing, this process makes the paper stronger and more durable; more like cloth. Virsik then cuts it into strips and forms it into chains. These sculptures demonstrate new, lasting, intimate connections.
25% of the proceeds from the sale of this work will go to the Freedom Fund for Rahsaan “New York” Thomas to raise legal funds to assist him in fighting for his freedom after over 20 years of incarceration at San Quentin State Prison.
Abby Zhang
Abby Zhang paintings explore the unknown aspects of self-consciousness shaped by encounters. Their work is deeply driven by a sense of nostalgia—memories, thoughts, and ideas that have been integral to their life and have influenced their identity. Within the paintings, sensibility takes root in the depiction of a room. This room serves as both the custodian of stories within the works and a vessel for the artist’s ongoing process of gathering ideas. It also becomes a safe space that fosters a meditative, trance-like state.
Jill McLennan
is a painter, printmaker and teaching artist who has been living in Oakland, CA for 23 years. She is an active member of her neighborhood Jingletown, creating and organizing public art and beautification projects, and has her studio at Jingletown Art Studios. In 2023, she completed a large-scale public art project with the city of Emeryville, a steel fence depicting local views and shorebirds. Currently, she is focused on printmaking and is exploring several techniques and subjects. This fall, she is an artist in residence at Kala Art Institute in Berkeley. As both an artist and a teacher, she is deeply invested in learning new things, exploring her environment, inspiring youth, and spreading hope and joy into the world.