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GRAY MERCER DESIGN
Born in New York City in 1960, Gray Mercer has been creating objects and sculptures for the past twenty-seven years. After moving to Taos New Mexico in the early eighties, he created several large public sculptures in steel. The themes were based on exaggerated animal forms, primarily horses. Mercer did the Running Horses for the Albuquerque Sunport in 1989. In the early nineties Mercer began a sculpture series using large rough-hewn logs, creating a three-dimensional calligraphy in space. The predominant themes were potential energy (mass suspended above ground), symmetry, balance, and counter balance. These themes echoed and pushed further the earlier ones begun with the large steel sculpture. The wood and stone sculptures added some new elements: the journey, as exemplified by doorways and ship-like structures; and music, as exemplified by large resonant elements and harmonic orientations suited to site specific environments. In 1998 Mercer created his first multi-discipline work. Human sized stone stele were cut out of limestone blocks and placed in the ground, a composer's work was selected, and a group of contemporary dancers choreographed a piece to unite form, sound, and movement into one. It is the dance of these three elements that can best describe Mercer's work and its description of life's journey.
Selected Exhibitions (Abbreviated):
2015 Cherry Creek Arts Festival, Denver, CO
2014 Sculpture in the Park, Loveland High Plains Arts Council, Loveland, CO
2013 Hulse Warman Gallery, outdoor sculpture exhibit, Taos, NM
2012 Center for Visual Art, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Taos Contemporary Show, bronze sculpture, Denver, CO
2012 Phillip Bareiss Gallery, solo installation exhibition, Stone Arc #6, stone and steel, Taos NM
2012 Shidoni Gallery, outdoor exhibition, stone and steel sculptures, Tesuque, NM
2012 Hulse Warman Gallery, Taos, NM, outdoor exhibition, “Cleft”,bronze sculpture, Taos, NM
2011 Pismo Gallery, group exhibition; stainless steel, wood, and glass table, Aspen, CO
2011 Phillip Bareiss Gallery, solo installation exhibition, Stone Arc #4, stone and steel, Taos, NM
2011 Ryan House, Taos, NM; Rademeyer spiral stair, Taos, NM
2010 Phillip Bareiss Gallery, solo installation exhibition, Stone Arc #3, stone and steel, Taos, NM
2010 Shidoni Gallery, Tesuque NM, outdoor exhibit
2009 Phillip Bareiss Gallery, solo installation exhibition, Wood Arc #1, wood and steel, Taos, NM
2009 O'reilly House, Taos NM; Eiteljorg Mantle, Taos NM
2008 David West House, Taos NM; Shidoni Gallery, Tesuque, NM, outdoor exibit
2007 Brainard railings, Taos NM; Shidoni Gallery, Tesuque, NM, outdoor exhibit
2006 Spruce Lane Carport, Taos NM; Spruce Lane Fountain, Taos NM; Shidoni Gallery, Tesuque NM, outdoor exhibit
2005 Klaudia Marr Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, Summer Show
2005 Fenix Gallery, Taos, NM, June and July Show
2005 Loveland Sculpture in the Park, Loveland, CO, Juried Show
2004 Kaye Stair (mild steel), Fabricated for Myers and Co. Architectural Metals, Avon, CO
2002 Colorado Mountain College, Glenwood Springs CO, Group Show
2001 Coleman Stair (wood), Fabricated for Aspen Cabinet and Millwork, Aspen, CO
2000 Colorado State University, Fort Collins CO, Two Large Outdoor Works, 2yr Loan
2000 Parks Gallery, Taos NM, Indoor Sculpture Installation, Two Large Works
1999 Elaine Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton NY, Sculpture Installation
1998 Shidoni Gallery, Tesuque NM , Secret of the Clouds Performance Piece.
1998 Vail Arts Festival, Vail CO, Best of Wood
1997 Quietude Gallery, New Brunswick NJ, Group Show
1996 Mirage Gallery, Albuquerque NM, Steel Horses Installation
1996 Mind's Eye Gallery, Scottsdale AZ, Wood Furniture
1995 Phillip Bareiss Gallery, Taos NM, Tres Piedras Installation Wood Sculptures
1995 Albuquerque United Artists, Albuquerque NM, Best of Show
1995 Sculptors Guild, New York NY, New Members Show
1994 College of Santa Fe, Santa Fe NM, Outdoor Invitational
1994 Quiet Waters Park, Annapolis MD, Invitational Entry Piece to Park
1994 14 Sculptors Gallery, New York NY, Wooden Wishes One Man Show
1994 Ward-Nasse Gallery, New York NY, Shape Shiftings
1994 Hakone Open-Air Museum, Tokyo , Japan,
1993 Shidoni Gallery, Tesuque NM, Young Artists Show
1993 Carlsbad Museum of Art, Carlsbad NM, Taos Moderns Show
1991 Taos Art Association, Taos NM, Four Sculptors Show
1990 City of Albuquerque, Albuquerque NM, Running Horses
1989 Bareiss Gallery, Taos NM, Steel Horses
1985 Taos Art Association, Taos NM, Cave Vaults
Public Art Projects:
City of Steamboat Springs; Steamboats Springs, Colorado Prancing Horse 2000
City of Gunnison; Gunnison, Colorado; Two Horses, 1998
City of Albuquerque, Albuquerque International Sunport, Running Horses, 1989
Albuquerque Visitor and Convention Center, Logo Image, 1994
Selected Collections:
Colorado State University, Fort Collins Colorado
Manhattan Electric Company, Rye New York
Commodities Inc., Dodge City, Kansas
Keleher and McLeod, Albuquerque New Mexico
City of Albuquerque, Albuquerque New Mexico
Centinel Bank of New Mexico, Taos New Mexico
R.C. Gorman, Taos New Mexico
Natalie Goldberg, Taos New Mexico
Jimmy Seitz, Santa Fe NM
John Malone, Parker CO
Bill Coleman, Los Altos CA
Prizes and Awards:
Award of Merit, Albuquerque Conservation Association, Albuquerque NM 1991
Selected Logo Image, Albuquerque Convention & Visitors Bureau, Albuquerque NM 1993
Albuquerque United Artists Award, Albuquerque NM 1994
Albuquerque United Artists Solo Show Award, Boca Grande Gallery, Albuquerque NM 1995
Anderson Ranch Scholarship, Anderson Ranch, Snowmass CO 1996
Best of Wood, Vail Arts Festival, Vail Colorado, 1996
Best of Wood , Vail Arts Festival, Vail Colorado, 1998
Publications:
Southwest Art, 1990, p,52
Inside Art, Cold Steel Makes January Hot, March 1991, p.8
National Cowboy Hall of Fame, Oklahoma City, OK , 1991, p.2
Albuquerque Monthly, Albuquerque NM, May 1991, p. 11
Albuquerque Journal, Albuquerque NM, April 22, 192
Guild Magazine, Madison WI, 1993
THE Magazine, Santa Fe NM November 1994, p. 57
THE Magazine, Santa Fe NM, November 1994, p. 67
Albuquerque Journal, Albuquerque NM, January 15 1995
The New York Times, New York NY, September 10 1995, Art Review
The Bay Guardian, San Francisco CA, June 1997
Education:
1996 Japanese Joinery, Anderson Ranch, Snowmass CO
1983 BA Visual Studies, Dartmouth College, Hanover NH
1983 BA Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover NH
1980 Independent Study, Richard Freidberg, New York NY
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