Bean Commission, Panel 2, Acrylic on Canvas, 2007


I work primarily with acrylics and pastels, using these mediums to contrast the heavy, immobile nature of many of the subjects in my works against soft, blurry settings or vice-versa. I am constantly attempting to play with texture, to trick the eye into seeing or believing something that isn’t quite there; forcing the viewer to be drawn inward into an illusion of distorted reality. My work has progressed over the years from linear, personalized ideas to a more cohesive and ambitious narrative encompassing not only myself, but of all humanity.

In my pieces, I attempt to string together this constant battle of images and ideas brewing within current thoughts and discourse of what makes and breaks a person...loneliness, passion, spirituality…to convey the numbing duality of the surface, static symbolism of the World’s expectations with bright, simple and primary colors—which are pulled heavily from my Caribbean roots--merged together with the more complex, dark and chaotic lifelines hidden just beneath. I strive to create this feeling of being stuck in a waking dream…tipping on the edge of reality. This World, my World, is one that is both beautiful and ugly, concrete and uncertain, silent and animated, flirting with implication while feigning ignorance…but never dishonest.

© Copyright 2008 Melanie Stevens All Rights Reserved