Brian Merriam
Published by Commune Press

Los Angeles-based artist Brian Merriam, who seeks to unravel universal concepts by directly engaging with power spots and natural phenomena around the world, has completed a collection of his most impressive works.

In addition to the overwhelming artwork, please pay attention to the foil-stamped and embossed cover, the carefully designed binding that uses two types of paper to match the concept, and the illustrations by Alex Coxen that expand the worldview at key points. In addition, a separate Japanese translation zine is included to help you understand the preface by Brian Merriam himself, which is a key part of this work.

“The Absolute Recedes is a union of the universal and the personal. The project acted as a filter through which I could process and transform traumatic personal experience into a greater awareness of, and a deeper relationship with, the universe at large. In the wake of powerful loss, I felt as though I was given a choice.

I could continue to languish in cynicism, or I could try to grow - to meet the moment, or perhaps, to transcend it. Through firsthand experience with powerful places and natural phenomena, and through countless excursions into my own mind in search of its most distant shores, The Absolute Recedes aims to do just that - to take the viewer where it has taken me, somewhere farther than I knew I could go.”

Illustration and titling by Alex Coxen
Introduction by Prema Goe

8 x 12 inches
232 pages
Paperback
Edition of 500
Foil stamped and debossed cover
2025