David Richard Contemporary is pleased to present Lost Horizons and Other Places, a solo exhibition of paintings by Merion Estes. The exhibition features her most recent paintings on large heavy paper, Lost Horizons, and an assortment of paintings and collages from the past 30 years, Other Places. The common theme that connects the two bodies of work is man’s impact on the earth and environment through industrialization and globalization, depletion of resource, loss wildlife and extinction of species. Estes’ paintings are lush, vibrant and complex with layers of collaged elements?paper, clippings, textiles?combined with gestural strokes, textured scrapes, washes and drips of paint. Not all is bleak in Lost Horizons, sharing not only the name of Frank Capra’s 1937 film in which utopia?Shangri-la?is found by those on a journey in the Himalayas, but also spectacular imagery that carries the viewer to a higher place.

Merion Estes studied at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque and received her MFA from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She has had 17 solo exhibitions and her work has been included in over 52 group shows since 1972 in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, Denver, Madison, Normal, IL and Alberta, Canada. Her work has been reviewed and published in numerous publications. Estes lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.