The Konrad Fischer Galerie is pleased to announce the second solo exhibition of American artist Melissa Kretschmer. The show presents a group of paintings and drawings originating from a new body of work and runs until 7 March.
Kretschmer's paintings exist at the crossroads of the sculptural and the painterly, where the interaction of the work's manifold composing elements such as plywood, vellum, beeswax and gouache enables it to exist on a plane and in space all at once. Both the small-scale works and larger installation pieces deal with core themes of her oeuvre: matter and light.
In her recent work, Melissa introduces a new approach: that of sawing and cutting into the painting to reveal its interior. Each work is a balancing act, between inside and outside, surface and interior, inherent color and applied color, translucency and opacity. The delicate interplay of woods, colors, lines and crevices succeeds in counterposing the density of the plywood with the subtlety of the surface.
“I feel myself moving more and more towards the actual interior of the work, towards the idea of penetrating the surface to show that painting is not just about surface and support. There is richness of color and texture to be drawn out of the center of the material.” (Melissa Kretschmer)
Melissa Kretschmer (b. 1962) studied at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. She lives and works in New York.
