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Will Work For Fast Food

October 15 - November 17, 2015

UNIX Gallery presents Will Work For Fast Food by Eugenio Merino. This is th the artist’s second solo show with UNIX Gallery, featuring new and unique works by the artist. The exhibition focuses on the inequitable effects of blind, ubiquitous capitalism through satirical, Hyperrealist sculpture, installation, and painting. The opening reception will be held at the brand new Houston gallery location, 4411 Montrose Boulevard, on Thursday, October 15 from 6 - 8 PM. Will Work For Fast Food is on view from October 15 - November 17.

Will Work For Fast Food is the artist’s commentary on socioeconomic schisms in today’s society and the resulting marginalization of our fellow man. Borrowed from an all-to-common cardboard sign among the homeless population in the United States, “Will Work For Food” Merino provokes the audience’s attention to question their own relationship with this profound subject.

However, Merino is simultaneously able to capture an approachable, prankster’s gaze among the weighty subject matter. By adding “Fast” to the familiar signage, the artist jibes at the “McDonaldization” of contemporary society and by extension its surrounding modules including the art market. Conceived by American Sociologist, George Ritzer, this term explains how we rationalize our lives into alienating, disconnected paths for the sake of illusory convenience. For Merino, this comes at the cost of meaningful engagement with our surroundings and relationships.

Eugenio Merino is known for his controversial Hyperrealist sculptures – including dictators, politicians, artists, and other institutionalized figureheads – tackling themes of politics, religion, and socioeconomic standards with the aim of questioning these systemic, supposed truths. Merino uses irony, metaphor, and satire to make his art a space for the exchange of dialogue, free thought, and finding beauty in the germination of ideas and human agency. Known for his more controversial sculptures such as For the Love of Go(l)d or Stairway to Heaven, Merino works in various media, including drawings, videos, objects and sculptures; bronze, resin and silicone are all part of his cutting oeuvre. Each idea requires a specific material. These ideas are the language of the artist.

Born in 1975 in Madrid, Spain, Merino graduated from the Complutense University of Madrid. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions including MOCA (Taipei) and the B.P.S.22 in Charleroi (Belgium). In October 2015, he is making his US museum debut in the Station Museum of Contemporary Art’s exhibition, Corpocracy, which investigates “reality of our society in which corporations and their interests are allowed to have dominance over the economic and political systems” through “the subversive imagination...toward a transformation of social consciousness.” He has participated in a variety of art fairs, including Volta NY, Volta Basel, ARCO (Madrid), Art Brussels, FIAC (Paris), The Armory Show, Zona MACO (Mexico), Art Miami, and Art15 (London)

Eugenio Merino lives and works in Madrid, Spain.