NADA Miami 2024

Melissa Wallen’s paintings draw from a rich tapestry of personal snapshots, poetry, music, and art history, forming abstract landscapes that navigate the boundaries between memory and reality through the fluid nature of oil paint. Her work interweaves fragmented elements, creating spaces that are both familiar and otherworldly. Gesture and hue act as guideposts through emotional landscapes. Her intuitive paint handling, characterized by loose, swirling brushstrokes and a conscious embrace of the canvas surface, echoes the Romantic and Mannerist traditions. Fog, mist, and light mingle within her works, forming expansive dreamscapes that invite viewers to step into brilliantly lit nightscapes or traverse the astral plane.