During this time of economic strife, shouldn't it make sense that the federal and
state governments recognize our marriages? We want to pay taxes, but we
don't like being treated as second class citizens because of religious bigotry.
President-elect Obama promised to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act which
prohibits us from getting federal benefits, 1,138 of them. We must hold him to
his promise."


NEW YORK ARTS MAGAZINE -February 2008
Francis Nelson

The iconoclastic stance Charles Merrill takes as both an artist and activist
goes far beyond the formalized calls of civic duty. “There is only so much you
can do with paint on canvas,” he says. Nonetheless, Merrill continues to lay
paint on canvas to express his perception of the violence permeating the
increasingly intolerant attitudes of society. His latest series, Gay Activism in Art
Form, was presented recently at Broadway Gallery in New York City with the
intent of causing a stir in the social fabric of our time.

A series of paintings were accompanied by a video installation arranged by
Brandon Cuuichi, allowing viewers to witness Merrill being interviewed about
his work.
His paintings present the uncanny juxtapositions of primitive forms and
saturated candy colors, childlike imagery and sensitive, sexually violent issues.
Merrill incorporates iconography into his prolific generation of homosexually-
charged imagery from both past and present. His work is politically charged,
and is often inspired by new developments in current events.

Merrill states that the pink triangles that reoccur in this body of work morbidly
reference the badges that homosexuals were forced to wear in World War II by
the Nazis, not the contemporary, re-purposed symbol of gay pride. The pink
triangles—along with the target and rainbow symbols—serve as the focal point
for many of the canvases, introducing a feminine and effeminate vernacular. A
disquieting dialogue is formed by the interplay of arrows and triangles aimed
towards these soft emblems, at times penetrating them.

Merrill works in both acrylic and oil paints to generate a bold and social
dialogue across 36- by 48-inch canvases. His messages are clearly spoken
through disquieting titles such as Oppressed Sexual Minorities and In
Remembrance of Mathew Shepard. The paintings do not debase the idea of
high art, rather indicate a shift in how art can be a platform for real and open
social discourse. In this way Merrill’s work speaks to the history of political
painting as in Soviet Constructivism, where visual composition is driven by the
incentive to access the largest audience possible in the most effective manner.

Merrill’s paintings communicate that there is something beautiful and universal
about a rich and varied social fabric, that is at risk of being lost or destroyed by
the blind acceptance of ancient religious texts. In Merrill’s view, texts such as
the Bible and the Koran are embedded in society and continue to dramatically
shape the violence that plays out through various forms of racism and
oppression.  

While Merrill condemns religion for the suffering and discrimination
homosexuals have been inflicted throughout modern history, he is also on a
spiritual mission of his own. Merrill is drawn to the spiritual nature of various
Native American and indigenous groups, who at times perceived homosexuals
as enlightened, special beings. His simple forms and rainbows—inspired by
Native American symbols—recall a time when homosexuality was not a
weakness, but a gift.

Merrill brings to light an issue that remains both politically and socially volatile
in today’s society. For Merrill, gay activism is equivalent to a fight against
religious faith. His aim is to overcome the effects that organized religion has
inflicted worldwide in the psyche and subconscious of our modern society.
Known for his secret performance of burning a Koran at his undisclosed
quarters in a Chicago hotel, Merrill has also repeatedly destroyed, or “edited”
specific sections of Biblical text for similar reasons.  While this was done
reclusively, it was a potent and personalized demonstration of how repressed
minorities must carry the burden of discrimination.

Additionally Merrill has at times worked more publicly as a performance artist,
repeatedly taking a marker and scissors to eliminate specific sections of
Thomas Kinkade’s Family Bible. These performances raise questions
concerning the social responsibilities of the artist. When using art as a platform
for social discussion, it seems that the artist must also gauge the public’s
reaction to the work, in order to see if they have produced an accurate
reflection of society and social issues.

“The role of the artists is to do thing that the politician won’t do or say,” Merrill
states, and it is precisely this notion that has led him to make decisions such
as refusing to pay taxes after the Clinton administration signed the Defense of
Marriage Act, which excluded homosexual marriages from key tax benefits.  
Recently, a particularly painful turn of events came about when President Bush
began promoting the amendment of the Constitution against gay marriage.
Merrill feels that these trends of prejudices are the product of increasingly
theocratic government structures.         

Merrill finds religion to be a source of oppression for homosexuals, but he also
sees religion as a force that denies individuals their self-responsibility and
autonomy in the world. He believes that prominent religious texts need to be
continually examined and raised to question in society. Merrill is an individual
who chooses to follow, rather exclusively, scientific reasoning. While he admits
that the feedback he has received from the gay public has been 50/50, he
argues that even a large demographic of homosexuals are religious. His
paintings emphasize the violent pain of oppression, but also the hope of
change and progress away from prejudices that infringe upon individualism. All
proceeds from the sale of his work go to the William Institute UCLA, Sexual
Orientation Legal Think Tank.

The Protest Art of Charles Merrill
BURNING THE KORAN (QUR'AN)
EDITING THE BIBLE

Religion, Sexuality and Art
By Michael Lucas

Charles Merrill’s artistic temperament was evident right from the start of our
interview. Defining himself as three-quarters gay and one-quarter straight, he
said that whatever the gender of his partner, he likes smooth skin and the
smell of night blooming jasmine.

He lived the earlier parts of his life-he’s now 73-on a grand scale, starting off in
the fashion business in New York City, then studying acting with Stella Adler.
After a stint with the Navy in Japan, he met his wife, Evangeline-who collected
Kandinskys and Pollacks-at a gallery show of his work in Palm Beach. They
remained together for 28 years until her passing in 1990.

A self-made millionaire he moved among high-society during the years of his
marriage. Later, he moved to North Carolina and immersed himself in Native
American culture. Today, Merrill is an activist (as a protest for inequality, he
refuses to pay taxes) and an artist who views religious zealots as dire threats.
His oil paintings include LGBT and religious symbolism. Recently, he edited
the Bible with scissors and ink to eliminate the Right Winger’s hit parade of
anti-gay passages. He knows the Koran in translation, but burned a valuable
antique edition of it given to his late wife by King Hussein Jordan.

We spoke with Merrill about his latest works before the opening of his New
York art exhibit, which includes his oils and a video installation.

You cut out specific verses from the Bible, but burned the entire Koran. Why is
that text is dangerous ? The Koran is responsible for 9/11. This kind of thing is
foreseen in the Koran, actually, with the non-believers heaped in piles and set
afire. The non-Muslims who don’t believe that the book talks about that very
obviously have not read the Koran. They have their silly fantasies that the
Koran is peace and light and Khalil Gibran [the Lebanese artist and poet], but
it is not. Even [President] Bush goes around calling Islam “a religion of peace.”
He’s full of crap ; it isn’t. Why don’t we hear more criticism of the text ?

[The Muslim] strategy is to intimidate people out of saying the least bad thing.
But if everyone cowers like the media does, what chance do we have of
preserving our freedoms and our legal system over time ? It is up to the artist
to edit the Bible and burn the Koran, because artists have the courage to do
things that so-called leaders in politics dare not do.

When I was in my 20s and 30s, I had many phobias of death. Now, though, I
think, “If I get to that deathbed in the hospital and feel remorse that I haven’t
made this warning against violence, then my life hasn’t been worth much.”

How did the gay community respond to your religious-based performance art ?
About 50 percent applauded me, and 50 percent were strongly against. Many
people were concerned about the concept of burning a book, particularly a
religious book. They’re clinging to the religious brainwashing they underwent
when they were children. They hang onto that childhood father figure in the
sky and twist it to where their make-believe friend Jesus helps them come out.
I see faith-based gay organizations popping up all over the place ; to me, that’s
oxymoronic. Maybe if they would read the apocalyptic Book of Revelation, the
end of the Bible, they wouldn’t think they had such a great pretend friend in
Jesus. If you’ve matured as an adult you will get rid of all those tooth fairies in
your mind, take responsibility for yourself and live out your potential as a
human being.

How would you describe the role of religion in our country’s current
presidential debates ? It’s very important for the candidates to specify what is
in their minds. John Edwards, for example, reverted to his childhood Southern
Baptist religion when he had the tragic crisis of his son’s death. Well, a
president simply is going to face many crises. Is he or she going to be adult,
and effectively handle the crises, or are they going to revert to mythology and
imaginary friends ? Is there any proven connection between praying and the
successful resolution of a crisis ? When Hillary says that faith brought her
through Bill’s sexual indiscretions, I want her to elaborate.

All a candidate need do when asked about their religious beliefs is to say, “Oh,
that’s very personal to me” and they get the knee-jerk reaction of “Oh we
understand ; don’t bother to explain.” That mindset has prevented our society
from making an objective assessment of the complete text of the Koran.

Finally, how do you see these issues playing out in upcoming years ; are you
an optimist ? I think that the spirit of the Age of Enlightenment will prevail,
despite any setbacks.

Paintings by Charles Merrill, through Aug 31, at Broadway Gallery, 473
Broadway, 7th Fl., 212-431-1079. Visit his web site at merrillcharles.com.

NY Blade


Milton Fletcher

Artist, gay activist and iconoclast Charles Merrill is enjoying a prolific period of
creativity by addressing his social concerns in his art. A move last year to Palm
Springs, California, with its brilliant sunlight inspired Merrill to integrate aspects
of Cubism into his latest work, particularly the use of form and bright color. Like
Picasso and the passion of his mural, Guernica, Merrill is working with a
profound sense of artistic purpose. He states, “The role of the artist is to fix
unjust laws in the fabric of society that need to be fixed.”
What has to be fixed, according to Merrill, is the repressiveness of an
increasingly theocratic US Government toward same-sex couples and the
denial of equal treatment to all citizens as guaranteed by the US Constitution.
In 1996, for example, President Clinton signed “The Defense of Marriage Act,”
which disallowed same-sex couples the Federal tax benefits heterosexual
couples receive. President Bush's efforts to amend the US Constitution against
gay marriage provoked Merrill to stop paying his taxes in protest.
In addition to being a lifelong artist, Merrill published and edited Art In Ireland
magazine in the 70s. During this time, he interviewed artist Joseph Beuys, who
introduced Merrill to the concept of “Social Sculpture.” Merrill explains,
“Society as a whole is to be regarded as one great work of art to which each
person can contribute creatively. Beuys said, ‘Everyone is an artist.’” This
expansive definition of art’s role in the community gave Merrill a new
perspective on creating art and inspired him to use it as a tool for
transformation.
Influential artists throughout history who were homo- or pansexual have also
galvanized Merrill into action, including da Vinci, Michelangelo, Paul Klee and
Andrew Warhol. As the artist notes, “Many artists of the past were gay, some
of the most gifted.”
Using boldly colored acrylic and oil paints on 36 x 48-inch canvases in his most
recent work, Merrill’s visual forms are recurring motifs of triangles, circles, lines
and arrows which, taken together, create the artist’s visual language of
emphatic expression. These elements are also used to create symbols and
references that reiterate—rather obliquely visually, but more explicitly in the
pieces’ titles (like Oppressed Sexual Minorities and In Remembrance of
Matthew Shepard)—Merrill’s strong passion against pervasive intolerance.
Many of his compositions recall the styles of Soviet Constructivism and
Kandinsky. However, the iconic upside-down pink triangles in his work have a
more sinister reference—this was the emblem that gays had to wear in Nazi
concentration camps.
Merrill cites a spiritual reference to the symbol in his work, “In Native American
culture, the Berdache, or two spirit ones, were gay or bi-sexual men and
women accepted by the tribes as leaders of the spirit world, Sitting Bull and
Crazy Horse for example.” Merrill uses Cubist-like lines to refer to this
influence rather than to depict the original symbol, the swastika, which
included Berdache as part of its meaning, because it was perverted by the
Nazis.
Merrill is also a performance artist who makes his attitudes toward Christianity
uncompromisingly clear; he uses scissors and a black marker to edit Thomas
Kinkade’s Family Bible by cutting and striking out the hateful passages in the
text.
Perhaps most importantly, Merrill is altruistic. The proceeds from the work sold
at his show at New York City’s Broadway Gallery benefits the William Institute
UCLA Sexual Orientation Legal Think Tank. Ultimately, Merrill wants “to make
social change, educate, to leave the world a better place for the next
generation of oppressed people.” This is an admirable goal by a progressive
artist.

Milton Fletcher writes for NY Arts magazine and is director and curator of
CyberGallery66.org.


THE NEW YORK BLADE
WWW.NYBLADE.COM
APRIL 27, 2007

NATIONAL NEWS
As a Protest, Gay Millionaire Refuses to File His Taxes
By EILEEN MCDERMOTT
Friday, April 27, 2007

“All of a sudden, I thought, ‘I’m almost 73, and if someone doesn’t do something
about this now, it’s never going to change,’” said LGBT activist Charles Merrill of
his decision to stop filing his taxes in 2004.  
Merrill—a self-made millionaire, artist, fervent atheist and cousin of the co-founder
of Merrill Lynch—with the support of his partner of 16 years, Kevin Boyle, decided
to take action against the anti-gay discrimination implicit in the United States
federal tax code soon after selling his North Carolina farm three years ago.  

“I discovered that, since the farm belonged to me and not my partner, I could only
exclude $250,000 in capital gains,” Merrill said.  “When [heterosexual] married
couples sell a property, they can take up to a $500,000 deduction,” he noted.

Merrill was also married for 23 years to Evangeline Johnson, the only daughter of
Johnson & Johnson founder, Robert Wood Johnson. Having experienced the
benefits that the tax code afforded to straight married couples, he realized first
hand exactly how unfair the laws were when applied to same-sex couples. “It’s
unconstitutional to deny a segment of the population federal rights,” Merrill said.
Merrill and Boyle had held a commitment ceremony that same year on their
Edneyville, N.C. estate, but because the Federal government does not recognize
same-sex unions in any U.S. jurisdiction, Merrill had no legal recourse. Frustrated,
he chose instead to refrain from filing his taxes, an act which the artist describes
as “civil disobedience performance art.”  

Boyle, an independent contractor, has not been affected by the couple’s
noncompliance with the tax laws, but has pledged to go to prison with Merrill if
necessary. That is an unlikely scenario, Merrill said, because he is not evading
taxes, but merely refusing to file.

The IRS is currently withholding 28 percent of his income until he files, but Merrill--
who recently withdrew all of his finances from Merrill Lynch and reinvested them in
mutual funds with a higher rate of return to make up the difference—doesn’t seem
like the type to budge.  

Before 2004, both Merrill and Boyle had also been active in protesting an anti-gay
resolution passed in Rutherford County, N.C. in 1996. “They wanted to make it
clear that they didn’t want the gay lifestyle in their town,” said Merrill, who founded
Citizens Against Discrimination, organizing nearly 100 LGBT people from North
Carolina and the surrounding area to protest the resolution.
As a result of their visible role in countering the resolution, the couple soon began
to feel a backlash from their small-town neighbors.  

“We once got a rabbit in the mail with the feet cut off,” Merrill recalled. “It really took
[an emotional] toll on us.  I wouldn’t eat all day and then I’d drink and try to
moderate,” said Merrill, who is now an enthusiastic member of the religion-free
Save Our Selves (SOS) recovery program. Boyle also started drinking and smoking
marijuana excessively as a means of coping with the increasingly negative
atmosphere. The couple decided to sell the farm in 2004. Today, Merrill and Boyle
reside in Palm Springs, Calif., where they are registered as domestic partners.   

Merrill also made headlines recently for his passionate stance on the issue of
religious freedom. (He acknowledged that it was more difficult for him to come out
as an atheist in rural North Carolina than as a gay man.) A lifetime member and
contributor to the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Merrill is an outspoken
blogger. He stirred controversy among fellow bloggers on the North Carolina-
based Hendersonville Times News blog site when he changed his username from
“Charles 6”  to “Anti-Christ.” The New York Times Corporation, which owned the
site, suspended Merrill.
“The more I discussed gay and atheist issues, the more they started referring to me
as ‘Charles 666,’ Merrill said. “So I thought, Since they’re calling me the Anti-Christ
already, I’ll just change it.” The name incited fellow bloggers on the North Carolina-
based Hendersonville Times News blog site, who sent content alerts to the online
director. The Times has maintained that Merrill was blocked because “the
username ‘Anti- Christ’ is a form of trolling.”

A prolific artist as well, Merrill incorporates themes of LGBT activism and the
spiritual customs associated with indigenous cultures oin his work. An installation
will be shown in New York later this year, and will include a video piece featuring
interviews with Merrill about his decision to stop filing taxes.    

Despite his commitment to tax equality for LGBT citizens, Merrill does not suggest
that others refuse to file. “Most people can’t do this because they’d be fired from
their jobs, or [in the case of wealthier individuals] they’re locked into taking advice
from their stockbrokers,” Merrill explained.  “I don’t promote this or advise anyone
else to do it,” he said. “I’m in a unique position; not everyone has my income.”
Merrill also noted that many LGBT organizations that have 501(c)(3) status and
thus rely on tax-free donations could lose that status if they engaged in this type of
protest.  

Ultimately, Merrill hopes to have his day in court.  “I would wait for the OK from the
LGBT legal organizations, but I would go to court with this,” he said. Although
most LGBT legal experts agree that same-sex marriage rights must be approached
on a state-by-state basis, Merrill remains confident that equality will win. “I think
[the issue of tax inequity] will end up in Federal court,” he said.  “I hope that this
will be tested in the Federal courts and that [the issue] will be resolved before I die.”






Education and biography  

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Publisher and Editor - The Arts in Ireland magazine
(1971-75) Dublin
Mural artist (Palm Beach Florida)
Norton Art Museum man show
Guest speaker at National Gallery of Art, Dublin, Ireland
Women's Democratic Club, Washington, D.C.
Speaker Norton Gallery and School of Art, West Palm
Beach, Fla.
BBC Northern Ireland "Art can bridge the gap between peoples of the world".
OUT IN THE BAY - NPR San Francisco
BARRY LYNN RADIO INTERVIEW - Culture Shocks
Alan Colmes - FOX Radio NYC
Rachel Maddow-Ron Reagan Radio - Air America
CHARLES MERRILL IN
VENICE

Activism ART
CHARLES MERRILL
KEVIN BOYLE
1991