Melissa Meyer: New Paintings and Watercolors

Detail of Caratina, 2011, oil on canvas, 20 x18 

From the first time I saw Melissa Meyer’s gestural paintings, about 20 years ago in a small gallery in  SoHo, I have marveled at the way they balance intense movement with the order of the grid. Meyer’s gestures are fluid, almost calligraphic, but they suggest to me something like skeins or tangles of yarn, which have more dimension than what calligraphy would imply.

Meyer’s current show, New Paintings and Watercolors, is at Lennon, Weinberg in Chelsea through October 29.  With paint worked lightly, sometimes almost a wash, Meyer squeezes out a lot of color, saturated color, engaging the picture plane flat up against the surface as well as deep into the distance. I could look at them endlessly as they elecrify their allotted square or rectangular area, as well as the space into and around them.

View into the gallery, with Dassin on the back wall and Walkabout at right, both oil on canvas 2011

Above and below, panning the back gallery

It's a bit of a challenge to shoot in the back gallery, because the dramatic alcove is illuminated largely by daylight while the rest of the space is conventionally lit. I like the scale of these works, substantial but not overpowering--just the right size to fall into visually

Below: a detail from right in the center of Dassin.

These are not stain paintings--the ground is gessoed--but there is a lightness that plays in counterpoint to the strength of the gesture and the vigor of the composition

 From the back gallery looking toward the entry

On the foreground wall, full view of Caratina, whose detail opened the post