Jason Mernick Bio

For centuries, heat has been used to extract metal from natural elements. Jason Mernick has pioneered an exciting new art form, using heat to draw natural elements from metal.

Brandishing fire the way artists traditionally use paint, Mernick torches cold, rigid sheet metal into warm, fluid forms. Stainless steel, copper and aluminum are transformed into suns and ferns, trees and flowing geometric designs. Mernick's fine contemporary metal wall art dazzles the mind and sparks the imagination.

Mernick makes his home in California with his wife and young son. The passion to pursue his artistic vision intensified following Mernick's tragic loss of both parents within a one-month period. He began to work with a renewed sense of dedication, participating in the New York Artexpo SOLO, a venue to which he attributes his growing success. He sold out at each exhibit, three years in a row.

While each piece he creates is unique by virtue of its being an original, its distinctiveness is further enhanced by its capacity for change. Mernick's one-of-a-kind pop originals are interactive, allowing the collector to collaborate in the artistic process, by bending the pop-out designs in countless, changeable ways. "My art is like improvisational jazz in that you can't really predict the next note," he observes.

Equally unpredictable is the element of danger associated with the production of each piece. Mernick's studio is located in a rustic setting. The calming influences of nature found outside are reflected in his gleaming art. Inside however, his workspace is more reminiscent of an active volcano. There he expertly employs a welder's torch of the variety used on offshore oil rigs, bridges and skyscrapers. Working under the most extreme conditions, fire, sparks and noise all play a part in his artistic process as he cuts and colors the metal using intense heat. The high temperatures cause the metal to undulate, thus creating organic shapes with fluid lines and gleaming patinas, protected by powder coating.

Mernick's art is currently in numerous important galleries and collections in the USA, Canada and abroad.  Sizable commissions include The Rochester Technology Park (the former Kodak World Headquarters) in New York State and Harrahs Casino in Chicago. His custom-designed originals range in scale from the small to the monumental, suitable for outdoor installation. Jason Mernick's bold and innovative works not only withstand time and the elements, they embody them.

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