Wiels | EN

Melissa Gordon (b. 1981, Boston, USA) graduated from the BFA program in Painting/Printmaking at the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, USA, and also attended the Cooper Union School of Art in New York.

Prior to her residency at Wiels, she participated in the 2-year studio program De Ateliers in Amsterdam. Her exhibitions include solo shows at Juliette Jongma Gallery in Amsterdam, Cosar HMT in Düsseldorf and at Ancient and Modern in London, as well as group shows such as the Prague Triennale, "Dealing with Reality" at the Museum voor Moderne Kunst in Arnhem and "Ballet Mécanique" at Timothy Taylor Gallery in London. Melissa Gordon was awarded the Dutch Royal Prize for Painting in 2006 and the ABN AMRO Kunstprijs in 2007.

Melissa Gordon’s painting based practice deals primarily with the creation of a visual narrative from spatial relationships of imagery both within singular works and between groupings of paintings and painted sculptures. The work has been generated from periods of research focused on subjects such as women’s roles and representations within various genres of power depiction, and the collapse of systems of democracy. The work itself ‘presents’ the research in logical formations, referencing organizational systems such as timelines, ‘exquisite corpse’ games, crime boards and newspaper formatting.

Gallery websites

Ancient & Modern, London
Juliette Jongma, Amsterdam
Cosar HMT, Düsseldorf