André François van Vuuren

Large Expressionist Figurative Oil Painting "Witnesses"

2020

This oil painting on Belgian linen canvas with vivid colours depicts people and situations with whom the artist have had contact. Whilst the works are not strictly speaking, portrait...

This oil painting on Belgian linen canvas with vivid colours depicts people and situations with whom the artist have had contact. Whilst the works are not strictly speaking, portrait...

This oil painting on stretched Belgian linen canvas with vivid colours depicts people and situations with whom the artist have had contact. Whilst the works are not strictly speaking...

A unique, medium to large scale exotic figurative painting with vivid colours and details. The painting style shows influences from the post-impressionists and fauvists, yet is unden...

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...

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...

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’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...