The Fantastic Merlins

Art in the cafe...

Laurel Statz


"The Spectator"


December 2025



Laurel Statz is a painter and Madison area native. Her work, while figurative, is influenced by abstraction and minimalism. The paintings often have a quick and instinctual nature, capturing just what’s needed. While she often times herself to eliminate extra details and over-precision, she has ventured into more detailed works as well. Laurel does not attach narrative to her pieces. Rather, she thinks of them like a journaling process for her scatter-brained psyche. The figures in the pieces are meant to be processing tools for the artist and the viewer. She hopes that seeing these figures helps the...
[ more ]
Friday, August 26, 2005

Intensely cinematic and entirely unique, the rare beauty of New York City and Minneapolis based instrumental combo The Fantastic Merlins begins with the group---s unusual blend of cello (Jacqueline Ferrier-Ultan), saxophone (Nathan Hanson), bass (Brian Roessler), and drums (Federico Ughi). Replete with stunning dynamics and melodies that range from playful to mournful, the resulting style encompasses avant-garde jazz and chamber music alike, as well as everything in between. This kind of genre-bending anti-pop typically caters to the jazz or classical crowd, but The Fantastic Merlins have already attracted the attention of a widely diverse audience. The group will tour in Summer 2005 behind their debut live EP The Fantastic Merlins.

Music