Bio
Melanie is a Brooklyn, NY based artist who works in abstract oil painting that focuses on the relationships between people and our urban context. The city plays an integral role in how her works develop, reflecting her personal experiences through the lens of the urban fabric. She was born and raised in Columbus, IN where she received her master’s degree in architecture from Indiana University. As part of the inaugural cohort, she participated in dual architectural and visual art studios. Her work has been exhibited across Indiana, Pennsylvania, and New York. Melanie received a grant from the Liu Shiming Art Foundation in support of her solo exhibition held at The Blanc Gallery in 2023.
Artist Statement
My work explores the effects of the built environment within New York on human experience and behavior; often within the transitional zones between public and private spaces. These zones often manifest in my painting through energetic gestures, unexpected color and compositional layering. They explore the edges of urban development, including the ground plane, architecture, nature, objects, and human behavior. Some of the threads that I often explore are tension, density, and physical interaction within these transitional spaces. I consider individual access, shifting boundaries, and visual and auditory privacy as a result of a vastly evolutionary environment. These paintings are built up from personal experiential observation. My immersion within the city, manifested via painting, directly expresses my account of the city’s ever-changing qualities and the reflected effects they have on its inhabitants.