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David Mellen
Triptych Oil on linen: 'Elephant'

2024

$34,500
£26,494.52
€30,362.39
CA$48,567.48
A$54,406.31
CHF 28,350.65
MX$663,644.69
NOK 360,271.70
SEK 339,710.54
DKK 226,616.56

About the Item

David Mellen has proceeded to work according to his own design. He sees art as a medium of discovery rather than a display of untrammeled emotion. This has very little to do with a liberal or conservative attitude toward painting, especially at a time when any kind of style can be justified as effective. Mellen’s merger of non-objective form with figurative indications is an ambitious decision that works. At a time both ways of proceeding are established, it makes sense to use the two approachesin tandem. We have to remember that, in contemporary art, the very pursuit of painting is seen by some as an anachronism! The question then becomes, How do we move out of something regarded as antiquated and establish a platform for new visual l articulations? This is easier said than done. Legacies have a way of shutting down innovation. Mellen rightly moves in a direction of change. His historical subtleties may be construed as an unwillingness to move ahead, but this is wrong, instead, he is producing work with an intelligent insight: painting today is meant to move across genres and periods. The effectiveness of appropriation and eclecticism can be questioned, but that need not concern us. Mellen paints the way he does because he has to, not because he has a theory in mind. His complexity, intellectual and formal results in work that remains both a critique and of an advance in art’s past. This is likely the best way of advancing painting. – Jonathan Goodman
  • Creator:
    David Mellen (1970, American)
  • Creation Year:
    2024
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 78 in (198.12 cm)Width: 102 in (259.08 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    New York, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU422314036912

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Diptych, Oil on Linen: 'Némésis'
By David Mellen
Located in New York, NY
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...
Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Linen, Oil

Oil on Linen: 'In Birdshadow (Diptyh)'
By David Mellen
Located in New York, NY
David Mellen’s paintings orchestrate a complexity derived both from an intricate style and equally complex notion of painting’s ability to cross boundaries and conception in a time o...
Category

2010s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

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Diptych; two panels each 70 x 42 in: 'Swansong'
By David Mellen
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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...
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Abstract Oil on Linen Canvas: 'Corrida'
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David Mellen’s paintings orchestrate a complexity derived both from an intricate style and equally complex notion of painting’s ability to cross boundaries and conception in a time o...
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Abstract oil painting: 'Descent'
By David Mellen
Located in New York, NY
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...
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2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

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Oil on Linen: 'Death by Water'
By David Mellen
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David Mellen’s paintings orchestrate a complexity derived both from an intricate style and equally complex notion of painting’s ability to cross boundaries and conception in a time o...
Category

2010s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

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