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David MellenDiptych, Oil on Linen: 'Némésis'2022
2022
About the Item
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 would be recognizable to any medieval reader of the Bible, but we could also see the figure in the act of alienation from its identity. A demonic presence inside a body is suspended between outer and inner realms in Fragment (2021)(header image). The diptych Swansong (2021) baffles us with our inability to make a coherent statement about anatomy based on our critical thinking, a painting unfolding beyond the frame. An aspect noticed by the artist himself as he works with this intention in mind until a technical problem, he tested himself with, is finally resolved.
- Creator:David Mellen (1970, American)
- Creation Year:2022
- Dimensions:Height: 74 in (187.96 cm)Width: 72 in (182.88 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU42239820182
David Mellen
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 five years, he exhibited work in Paris, Brussels and London while working at studios in Germany and Brussels. After returning to the states and living for a time on the west coast, he moved across the country and now lives with his family in Connecticut and exhibits in New York. “When I start a new painting, it’s as if I’ve forgotten how to paint. I mean, once a painting is finished, that final image is so separate from the painting’s beginning, which is buried in this history of false starts and mistakes that I’ve forgotten how I went about it. For me, a finished painting is an accumulation of many small decisions which eventually add up to form a final image, but when starting something new, there is no history…there is nothing but a feeling and an idea. There’s a line in Becket’s Endgame ‘There’s something dripping in my head… A heart, a heart in my head.’ That’s how painting feels to me, slowly accumulating drop by drop.”
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Association of Women Art Dealers
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Stratford, CT
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