Schneider Museum of Art presents: A Solo Exhibition by Mel Prest: "The Golden Hour” and “Sensate Objects”

The Schneider Museum of Art Presents: Fall 2022 Exhibition October 7- December 10, 2022

Museum Hours are Tuesday-Saturday from 10am-4pm; Opening Reception is October 6th from 5-7pm. 

Entry Gallery, Highlights of the Permanent Collection & Masterworks on Loan

"The Golden Hour”

The Golden Hour refers to the hour before sunset and twilight, at the end of a day. The sun’s rays stretch longer, illuminating everything with a final burst of enchanting light before sinking behind the horizon. For me, the shift from day to night feels like transition from exuberance to stillness; both vital states of being.

These paintings are inspired by nature, which is always changing. I observe the magic of ffleeting color phenomena like mirages, rainbows, the movement of the sky and the ocean. Color is something I feel rather than observe and record precisely from nature. Color is important to me as it transmits sensations; I want my colors to taste like a flavor, feel like a touch or waft like a scent. My colors are often inspired by wildflowers and watching the sky.

I highlight these ephemeral moments in my paintings by using fluorescent, metallic, or phosphorescent paint and mica that flickers, glows or is shadowed in different light conditions. I paint many unruled and overlapping lines in three colors. This creates the appearance of a handwoven mesh or an undulating soft geometry of shifting space. Upon viewing, the visual effects are different, person to person. The feeling of slipping time and optical confusion remind the viewer that you are seeing something unknown reveal itself, become a painting in front of you.

"Sensate Objects"

…brings together the work of 13 visual artists engaged in abstract, contemporary painting and sculpture. The title reflects the accessible boundary of shape-shifting forms and materialized artworks. Using a range of historic, contemporary, and non-traditional art media such as watercolor, repurposed pipes, poured resin, papier-mâché, hand-dyed thread, gouache, digital weaving, and automotive paint, each artist charts their own personal direction.

During the Renaissance, paintings were described as a frame or a window depicting nature and three-dimensionality through the use of perspective and vanishing points. The paintings in this exhibition challenge this view and set aside the Renaissance relationship of space in favor of form. Some of the paintings become very object like themselves where the artist has taken the entirety of the work into consideration, not just the face of the painting.

The sculptures reject being seen as only an object. The work appears to flatten and become floating two-dimensional images. As the viewer moves through space and the work shifts in profile, the artwork becomes depressed, planed-out and something much like a suspended drawing. These sculptural, object-works employ rich textures and materiality, ranging from hand-hewn to nearly industrial finishes. This sensuous tactility is inspired by phenomena, gesture, and the material itself. Sensate Objects requires slow and sustained viewing for optimal effect.

Curated by Mel Prest