Brian Neish

Deepest Harmony 08

2017

David Mellen's work is not easily defined, vacillating between human flesh and metaphoric representation, the paintings beg you to look deeper and to consider their physical properties. Duchamp, de Kooning, Bacon, Giacometti, Rothko are all direct influences for Mellen, yet he can not be strictly categorized as a representational or an abstract artist. Mellen paints forms reminiscent of human bodies, building them one day at a time for the duration of several months. An endless process of addition and subtraction is at work as the loosely defined figures emerge in sharp contrast with precisely executed geometric backgrounds of neutral colors. The juxtaposition between exposed canvas, well-defined geometric background and a form as the subject of the painting is a motif that has followed Mellen’s work through the years. The entities in Mellen’s work reference actions rather than concrete characters. For example, in Descent (2020) a fall from grace...

David Mellen (b. 1970, Chicago, IL, USA) attended the American Academy of Art and exhibited his work in his hometown of Chicago until 1994, when he moved to Europe. Over the next fiv...

David Mellen (b. 1970, Chicago, IL, USA) attended the American Academy of Art and exhibited his work in his hometown of Chicago until 1994, when he moved to Europe. Over the next fi...

Carol John's art reflects her encounters with mainstream modern artists-showing the obvious influence of Guston and other individualists like Marsden Hartley and Alfred Julio Jensen-...

Carol John's art reflects her encounters with mainstream modern artists-showing the obvious influence of Guston and other individualists like Marsden Hartley and Alfred Julio Jensen-...

Carol John's art reflects her encounters with mainstream modern artists-showing the obvious influence of Guston and other individualists like Marsden Hartley and Alfred Julio Jensen-...

This 20" x 23" oil on masonite painting by Georgian artist Erekle Chinchilakashvili depicts two blue trees near a brown pathway leading to the...

This early work by Jacob El Hanani was done in 1970. It is mixed media on masonite. It is hand signed in Hebrew and English in the bottom right. The piece comes framed in a black woo...

David was inspired by the Anasazi petroglyphs with these shapes of the figures in this painting. It is an oil painting on Masonite. The frame is black wood- a shadow box concept. The...

"In the world of still life and landscape, conceptual events meet one another – the structural meets the narrative, the small stands in the space of the large, and color has a chance...

Acrylic on Masonite

Acrylic on Masonite