ABOUT ME

ARTIST STATEMENT

Melissa Forman spends her time creating a richly visual world filled with characters created from an opulent, mysterious, and often eerie imagination. Her lovely, idealized figures seem lost in their own worlds, drifting between the 16th, 18th, 19th and 21st centuries. Created from a mix of imagery from modern and times long past, her portraits draw from obvious traditions in the genre but take on a life of their own. Her figures are strangely perfect and almost frozen in their expressions and poses. They evoke a traditional sense of etiquette and grace while reaching outside of their image to provide a window into something deeper and far more human. These mysterious, and sometimes withdrawn, figures are not meant to represent themselves, rather, they portray emotional states and aspects of the human psyche. Melissa has carefully calculated each one by changing colors and manipulating features to evoke a mysterious and sentimental mood. Alienated from their real world and time, these images become metaphors for emotional and psychological states. They exist as a product of Melissa's pursuit to create beauty and recognize the elegance and sincerity of genuine human emotion. 

EXHIBITIONS

2006 Neighborhood Compound Gallery Portland, OR

2007 Solo Show Compound Gallery Portland, OR

2007 Literartistry Corey Helford Gallery Los Angeles, CA

2008 Four Group Show Corey Helford Gallery Los Angeles, CA

2008 Young Blood Opera Gallery New York, NY

2009 Van Arno & Melissa Forman Corey Helford Gallery Los Angeles, CA

2009 Art That Creeps Strychnin Gallery Berlin, Germany

2009 Lush Life Roq la Rue Gallery Seattle, WA

2010 Art from the New World Corey Helford Gallery Bristol, England

2010 Keepers of Creation (Solo) Corey Helford Gallery Los Angeles, CA

2011 Scope Miami Corey Helford Gallery Miami, FL

2011 John Brophy & Melissa Forman Roq la Rue Gallery Seattle, WA

2012 Motion Group Exhibit Corey Helford Gallery Los Angeles, CA

2014 12x12 Art Collector Starter Kit Corey Helford Gallery Los Angeles, CA

2015 Freaks and Americana Corey Helford Gallery Los Angeles, CA

2015 3rd Annual Art Collector Starter Kit Corey Helford Gallery Los Angeles, CA

2017 Beneath the New Waves Corey Helford Gallery Los Angeles, CA

2018 5th Annual Art Collector Starter Kit Corey Helford Gallery Los Angeles, CA

PUBLICATIONS

Art that Creeps Hardcover curated/edited by Yasha Young

Juxtapoz Magazine

Hi Fructose Magazine

Pork & Mead Magazine

Empty Magazine

Beautiful.Bizarre

ArtistaDay.com

WideWalls.com

ArrestedMotion.com

ArtSlant.com

Coagula Curatorial

1xRun - 4 limited edition print releases