Mellissa Read-Devine: Opening 13th August 2011
It is easy to be captivated by the powerful immediacy and extraordinary colour emerging from Mellissa’s paintings on a purely aesthetic level. They are visually spectacular and invite the viewer to search for further harmony and empathy with the natural landscape. She brings the natural landscape and birds of the Hawkesbury to life with her original, spontaneous and vibrant paintings to be exhibited at Purple Noon Gallery from August 13th 2011 to September 17th 2011.
Decorative beauty has emerged, and colour has been embraced as the central theme in a story of modern and contemporary articulation of the landscape. Living in rural Sydney overlooking the Hawkesbury River, Mellissa’s work ranges between vibrant interpretations of her local landscape to intricate wood & linocuts. It is a retreat that allows her passions for the natural landscape and bird life to abound. Her combination of quirkiness and calm blend to create works with a strong spiritual base, and local cultural significance.
Her appreciation of colour tantalizes the senses. She applies a myriad of nearly identical sized dabs of blended colour, animating the surface and causing it to take on the quality of a mosaic. Splashes of colour bathed in the natural light are reminiscent of the Impressionist painters, where she rejects tonal sobriety, and employs a technique where luminosity and a mixture of material colours perpetuate the sensation of variegated spots and dabs. Her faceted mosaic surface of impressionism transforms to a contemporary and dynamic style.
Mellissa’s compositions are arranged harmoniously, yet her palette is daring, and her divided brushstrokes produce a robust art, based on sensation. There is an instant response to nature, which is spontaneous, whilst the mood of the pictures is conveyed most obviously through the breathtaking colour and light, with large buttery strokes. The paintings evoke a self contained quiet and melancholy – relaxed and composed and comfortable in their bush surroundings.
Mellissa is a recipient of many prizes and awards. Her artwork is now held in many private and public collections around the world. Her unique form of cultural expression delights all those that have the pleasure of viewing her exciting compositions.
