THE JUNGLE

Born in 1967 in Pembury, United Kingdom. Lives and works between london, UK and Berlin, Germany.

Merlin Carpenter is known for his frequent and strategic stylistic shifts in response to new contexts and subject matter. His works are often constructed around contradictory tendencies, elaborating discrepancies between what a painting appears to be and how it behaves in relation to the structures that legitimate its appearance.

Merlin Carpenter (1967, UK) lives and works in London. Carpenter’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Kunsthaus Schwaz, Schwaz; Kunsthalle Bern, Bern;  Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen and Secession, Vienna. His work is in collections including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Centre Pompidou, Paris and The British Council, London.

Merlin Carpenter is depicting David Bowie posing next to his painting 'Portrait Of JO' from 1976. David Bowie is one of Carpenter’s heroes. 'JO' in the title of Bowie’s painting refers to James Osterberg, the real name of Iggy Pop. In 1976, Bowie and Iggy Pop had left America and moved to Berlin. The city gave them access to a new life and new inspirations, not just for music. Bowie, whose affinity for German Expressionist art far predated his residence in Berlin, executed a number of lithographs and portrait paintings around that time.

Merlin has been exposed on many solo exibitions; Mutiny, bb berlin in collaboration with Borgenheim Rosenhoff, Olaf Schous vei 6, Oslo, Norway Stress Busters, Kunsthaus Schwaz, Austria (2024); Merlin Carpenter: Room Based, Guzzler, Victoria, Australia (2023); Merlin Carpenter: Room Based - The Paintings, JUBG, Cologne, Germany (2022); Steam Engine, Longtang, Zürich, Switzerland(2021). Including Group exhibitions; Hoi Köln, part 1: Die Begrüssung des Raumes / Welcoming the Space, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Germany, The Backend, Montclair State University Art Galleries, New Jersey, US, Questionable, O’Flaherty’s, New York, US Repeater,The Wig, Berlin.In Defense of Symbolic Value: Artistic Procedures in the Resort: Merlin Carpenter, Jutta Koether, Valentina Liernur, Kerry James Marshall, Albert Oehlen, Adam Pendleton, Avery Singer, SoiL Thornton, Rosemarie Trockel, curatedby Isabelle Graw, Berlin: Bleibtreustraße 45, Una colección privada, Fundacion Didac, Santiago de Compostela, Spain. (2023).