ARTISTS: Mel Prest
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Mel Prest
My recent black oil paintings chart language, light and sound. The hues arise from the study of shadows and light. They are non-objective and process driven, and allow for contemplation, study and open, varied interpretations.
The works on paper use a grid to chart names and phrases with colored lines. These began as coded Led Zeppelin songs, each drawing a unique song spelled letter by letter in gouache. I expanded this into a series of Tokyo and Osaka metro lines, charting subway station stops in various Japanese cities, again using a grid of dots corresponding to Hirigana characters. Other drawings are devoted to Billie Holiday’s Lady in Satin, the color limited to dark blues and blacks, turning sound and song into form.