Locale

For those who would die, there is life.

Robert A. Monroe wrote it in Far Journeys. For those who would dream, there is reality. For those who would hope, there is knowledge. For those who would grow, there is eternity.

Joe Merrell has been making video, animation, print and sculpture for exhibition in galleries and museums in the US and Europe for more than fifteen years. Eyes Are Always There began as the website for a single bottle and the artwork around a Los Angeles installation about UFOs and alien abduction, made with Christopher Gordon of Maison Anonyme.

That first one asked what a close encounter smells like, and answered it from what people who report them describe, referencing technology and biology both. It treated an overlooked part of the phenomenon as material. The fragrances have stayed inside the art practice rather than beside it. They are produced in limited runs, in small batches.