IG: @_fathermichael_

merakimichael.com

2(n*(n-1)/2)

“Real bands save fans, real fans save bands” is the heartbeat under everything I make. My practice is rooted in devotion to music, community, and ways sound becomes a structure for survival. 2(n*(n-1)/2) explores the neurological and emotional mechanisms behind musical attachment and obsession; using my personal experience with music as both subject and framework.

I approach fandom not just as escapism, but as endurance. Music functions as a stabilizing force and a site of belonging, forming emotional architectures between listener and artist. These shared experiences prove that care can be loud, consistent, and collective, offering connection when language or traditional systems fall short.

At the heart of my practice is a need to hold onto the things that built me, while also learning how to let them change. For me, memory isn’t clean. It’s layered and complicated, full of starts and stops, mistakes and discoveries, highs and lows. I have a memory that often relies on physical media and photographs to prove that moments and feelings ever existed. 2(n*(n-1)/2) is a way to prove to myself that these emotions once were and that they continue to be.

Bio

Meraki Gardner is a painter, concert-goer, and occasional carpenter who moves through life with a pair of well-worn E7 headphones and steel-toed boots. Raised on the Eastern Shore; the backroads of Church Hill, Maryland, became their first studio. It was in these moments that Gardner learned to scream his heart out to songs and use the dashboard as a drumset, taking in every moment music has to offer. Their large-scale oil paintings and installations are fueled by music, with a specific interest in the band 5 Seconds of Summer. Through his works, Gardner explores how fandom isn’t just fun, but a lifeline; a site for connection and a framework for identity.