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 is a Bay Area–based painter whose work explores memory, perception, and psychological atmosphere through layered, semi-abstract images. She received her MFA in Painting from Pratt Institute in 2021, recently participated as a resident artist at Art Bias, completed a residency at Kala Art Institute and Vermont Studio Center, and has been selected for an upcoming residency at the Torrance Art Museum this summer.
Jill McLennan
Jill McLennan creates paintings, collages and prints inspired by her surroundings and the stories that she collects. She has been a member of Mercury 20 Gallery since 2007. She is an active member of her neighborhood, Jingletown Arts, Business + Community (JABC), organizing Open Studios as well as beautification projects. She recently printed a series of linoleum blocks with poems, telling stories of migration and climate change, through a residency at the Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, CA. McLennan has completed two public art projects: Jingletown Birds at 401 Derby and Emeryville Perspectives at 65th and Christie Streets. Both are cut steel fences depicting the local shoreline with birds, designed by McLennan and executed by local metal fabricators. Her work was accepted to the deYoung Open in 2020 and 2023. As an artist and teacher, she is deeply invested in protecting her environment, inspiring the youth, and spreading hope and joy into the world.