Like a musician or composer, Sebastian Merk's work is concerned primarily with the expression of intense emotions. Composing with an explosive use of colour, his dynamic abstract canvases are both contemplations on freedom and a fervent response to life’s stories and experiences.

The artist works primarily in acrylic, acrylic-inks and blacklight UV-reactive paints, using palette knives, brushes, as well as his own hands. Switching between visible and UV light, his work reveals unseen worlds beyond the realm of everyday perception.

Combining the Impressionists’ concern for light, the Surrealists’ fascination for dream worlds and the Abstract Expressionists’ exploration of emotion, Merk's paintings form worlds in and of themselves. Each “painting world” is constructed over time with layer upon layer of abstracted gestural marks, whilst taking particular care to preserve contrast and luminosity.

Colour, contrast, and movement merge to create a world that captivates the viewer. Merk describes his work as emotional landscapes. Places that draw viewers out of the current moment, evoking memories that have lost detail over time and developed into vague, blurred assemblages of pictures and emotions, much like dreams. 

Often inspired by an emotional memory, a dream, or a paradise he wishes to visit, Merk's work showcases exactly this phenomenon. An assemblage of expressions of feelings and thoughts forms internal dynamics and melts together into a vibrant world one can move through. 

Sebastian Merk currently lives and works in Göttingen, Germany.