Melissa Brown is an artist who shows with Kansas and is associated with artists like Brian Belott and CANADA gallery. I have been familiar with her work for a long time, but recently had the chance to meet her personally. I asked her about her use of landscapes and she appreciated that question. It made me think more formally about painting in particular. Again, here is an artist fusing multiple dimensions into something that presents itself in a challenging way. First glimpse might miss the whole reality. Her work is more than abstract, architectonic, geological, paradoxical, formal, colorful, etc, more than just a pretty picture. Of course, that is a part of it as well. However, all of these aspects are elements that form a larger, "Dadaesque", perhaps quantum reality that in my view is inter-dimensional.
Of course an artist like Melissa is concerned with formal elements, like color and space. She has the education and art knowledge for such things. However, there is a quirkiness and eccentricity that is not contrived. Her playful nature comes through and it is refreshing to see. She seems to always be seeking out some transformative viewpoint, a new lens of consciousness about painting and art. I know that she has worked with games like the lottery as a high concept, as well as mail art in the vein of Ray Johnson. This painting, entitled "Grassy Waves" was in the Dadarhea show at CANADA in 2011. If you are interested in seeing more of her work you can visit her website at www.melissabrown.tv/.
