Melisa King
LandE scape
CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW task of unveiling the ubiquitous beauty that pervades our daily life and that can be recognized also in small plants . How much important is for your process the aesthetic problem and the pursue of beauty ?
Beauty is everywhere . I just try to catch them from my perspective and reflect on the canvas . It may be something that we see everyday even couple of times . However we may have lost our ability to really “ see ” it . The verb “ seeing ” has various ways of usage in language . Most commonly it is referred as visual perception however it also has other significant meanings . In dictionary Thesaurus synonyms of seeing are ; alert , awake , inspecting , looking , noticing , perceiving , regarding , surveying , viewing , witnessing , aware , conscious and observant . On the other hand , an antonym of seeing is asleep . I think all of these definitions are quite suitable for my understanding of seeing . Seeing starts from the surface , however it is the representation of the depth behind it . So , to my sensitivity paintings are two dimensional representations of the beyond .
I believe most of the times we are asleep . I decide on a painting when I am awake of that sleep . So I try to finish that painting before I get into sleep again . In that sense , I can describe my process of painting as the time spent awake . Painting itself becomes a “ reminder ”. Reminder of awakening to the beauty of this life .
For example I sometimes choose to paint my father . He is one of a source of inspiration for me . In my perception , he symbolizes comfort and peace . I make his paintings as of a reminder for myself as the symbolization of that feeling . I try to make a fraction in time to remind and celebrate that feeling .
We like Valley for the way it successfully attempts to capture the physical feature of such wide place and at the same time leaves space for the spectators to replay the scenes in their own intimate lives , letting them become emotionally involved in what you are attempting to communicate . How do you conceive the narrative for your works ? In particular , do you think that there is a central idea that connects all of your work ?
In my paintings narrative may change according to my life , my perception at the time . However underneath that narration there are always emotions and upon that narration there is always gratitute . So the narration in my painings goes back and forth between emotions and gratitute .
I prefer to leave the narrative to the spectator . For me it is important for the spectator to make a connection with the painting themselves . It is their own relationship with the work . I am just a conductor . Especially in the work Valley , I have realized that everyone see something different , eventhough I only see a flower . My starting point is a natural form however in the process of painting I represent my interpretation of that flower .
The tones that condense your visual vocabulary provides Untitled with a very ethereal quality . How do you view the concepts of the real and the imagined playing out within your works ?
I see real and imagined unseperable . One of them can not exist without the other .
37