“Lyric poetry is by its very nature elegiac – we write about what is in fact is already slipping away from us”
– Paul Mariani
Mariani’s statement might equally be applied to Melissa Coote’s paintings 8 for her works carry the strongest sense of archeology – a kind of forensic enquiry into the objects she scrutinizes and in a sense memorializes – as if to capture their fugitive presence before they too, slip away.
The paintings themselves are built up in successive layers of pigment, Arabic gum, shellac and glue. Into this medium she will add a complex variety of organic matter and mineral – all the while building up a body of material with sufficient density to sustain the ensuing processes that uncover these mesmerizing images.
Melissa’s images focus on details of the human body or the skeletal remains of other beasts, sometimes fossils and present them on a monumental scale. This shift of dimension, the complexity of the patina together with the sinuous nature of the forms lends the paintings extraordinary elegance – almost despite their gritty constituency.
Her repetitive treatment of aspects of the body imbues them with a kind of talismanic or ceremonial dimension – for they are the sensitive – the “magical” areas of the body that she returns to time and again. Eyes, hands and female genitalia take on metaphorical resonance.
This distillation of the body to emblematic parts is a long established phenomenon across cultures – from the Cycladic refinements of the female body into head, breasts and pubis to the practice of artists such as Louise Bourgeois – each registering the weight and meaning that such images hold.
Melissa’s own cyclical attention to these forms, her investment of time and touch allows each painting a quiet accrual of meaning that transcends a more superficial symbolism.
Jensen Sydney and Fox/Jensen Auckland are thrilled to announce that Melissa Coote will be represented by both galleries. There are exhibitions planned on both sides of the Tasman and her work will first be presented by Fox/Jensen at the Auckland Art Fair August 4-7th 2011.
For all enquiries please contact either Emma Fox – emma@jensengallery.co.nz or
Andrew Jensen – andrew@jensengallery.com.au