“I am taking the familiar elements of a landscape and whittling them down to their purest forms.” 

Artwork Archive's Featured Artist Mel Reese is a Brooklyn-based observational painter inspired by formalism. Lines, shapes, colors, and textures are as central to her work as the process of creating them. Moving between abstract elements and familiar structures allows her work to echo the representational through symbolic formalism.

Mel's recent Delta Daydreams series focuses on her experience in the Mississippi Delta—a time spent surrounded by a dark, mysterious nature, seemingly suspended in time, and drenched in water inspired an investigation of body and landscape.

Embracing the body as the vessel and nature as the foundation of human existence, Mel Reese seeks to generate conversations around the fraught relationship between humans and nature. Her observations are a particular confluence of quiet distilled down forms and bold textures that, when thoughtfully constructed, become narrative. 

A tale of the battle between “progress and destruction”, Mel Reese's work explores the complex dichotomy between the human experience and our crumbling world. 

Artwork Archive had the chance to chat with Mel Reese about her creative process, the stories her paintings are actually telling, and how Artwork Archive helps her manage her art career. ​ 

You can see more of her work on Discovery and learn more about her art practice below:

An inside look at Mel Reese's studio. Photo courtesy of the artist

Can you walk us through your creative process? How do you begin a piece, and how do you know it’s complete?

I tend to create my best work around the concept of a series—focusing on a single idea or area of exploration that is worked, edited, explored, and developed over the course of multiple paintings.

This series can range anywhere from 2 to 50 paintings and beyond. I keep going with a series until I feel I have fully explored my ideas or until the concept reaches its natural conclusion.

For the past several series, my exploratory concepts have been rooted in landscape. So, naturally, my process begins with going into nature, exploring a landscape that inspires me, taking photos on my phone, and writing “field notes” of a sort––poetic musings and reflections on what I see and experience––all of which I gather in a small notebook. These words and photographs form the basis of each painting to come.

Once I choose a photograph to base my next painting on, I print it out small and insert it into my sketchbook. I then sketch with paint and Caran d’Ache directly onto the photograph itself, honing the composition, developing the color scheme, and embracing the memory of being within that landscape. I then take these notes to my larger canvas painting.

Each painting has a life of its own and is slowly developed. I move slowly because I don’t want to miss the moment when the painting tells me it’s done.

To me, there is nothing worse than overworking a painting, suffocating it in paint and panic.

It takes years of experience to know when delicate paintings like mine have the strength to stand on their own.  

Mel Reese's vibrant palette of Caran d'Ache Neocolor pastels. Photo courtesy of the artist

Could you describe the process of moving between abstract elements and familiar structures in your paintings? 

Abstraction is just the familiar looked at in a different way.

I am taking the familiar elements of a landscape and whittling them down to their purest forms. For example, in my most recent series, Delta Daydreams, I explore the Mississippi Delta—a landscape entirely defined by its relationship with water. Instead of trying to depict the water itself, I drench the canvas in water before ever placing any pigment.

Like plants in the Delta, my paintings grow from the water source.

As a viewer of these works, it's easy to understand my exploration of landscapes by the way I use color, line, and texture to generate familiar topographical expressions. Through this ambiguous familiarity, we are left with a feeling of being everywhere and nowhere all at once. Colors evoke a sense of haunting timelessness; exploring an environment seemingly suspended in time. The paradoxical vertical orientation of each painting is disorienting and distorts our understanding of ‘scape’. 

While each of my series may look completely different from the next, my fascination with line, form, and texture remains a signature constant. The delicate linework of a figure drawing can be traced to the topographical terrain of an abstract landscape painting.

 

In what ways do your paintings become narrative, and what stories are you aiming to tell through them? 

My observations are a confluence of quiet, distilled forms and bold textures that, when thoughtfully constructed, allow my paintings to become narrative.

A tale of the battle between “progress and destruction”, my work explores the complex dichotomy between the human experience and our crumbling world.

My paintings tell a story of what it means to exist in today’s world and the fraught relationship between humans and nature. For example, the seemingly constant (though perhaps unnecessary) battle between the natural and man-made worlds is reflected in the delicate, speckled texture of the Caran d’Ache dancing on the surface of the canvas. This soft texture mimics the often-over-farmed monoculture landscapes found throughout the world—landscapes easily washed away and eroded in a single storm; with a single wet brushstroke, the Caran d’Ache melts and runs.

Our constant reliance on the land—for food and sustenance, the air we breathe, and the shade to keep us cool—is in constant battle with our desire to control nature, to bend it to our will. We call development progress, yet it comes at the cost of destruction.

Mel Reese, DD #2, 11 x 15 in, 2023

 

How do you see your work evolving in the future? 

Right now, I am focused on continuing to develop my Delta Daydreams series––abstract landscapes inspired by the Mississippi Delta. I'm still so inspired by the haunting beauty of that region. 

Next, I think a natural trajectory would be to expand this series and inspiration into a more global discussion.

You can see in my work that I am inspired by Japanese woodblock printmaking, so I would love to create an ode to the Japanese landscape.

 

In hindsight, what’s something you wish you knew before becoming a professional artist? 

In hindsight, I wish I had known just how much business and social media savvy you need, and how much time is spent on that part of your career rather than on creating the work itself.

But, Artwork Archive helps take away a lot of the nagging, tedious work required to successfully and seamlessly run an art business and grow your career.

I truly wouldn’t be able to do it without Artwork Archive.

The social media savvy…that’s a whole other beast!

Mel Reese in front of her artwork. Photo courtesy of the artist

Do you have any rituals or routines to get you in the creative headspace?  

I really enjoy listening to music when I paint.

It helps me step outside the hustle and bustle of the city around me and fully embrace the creative mindset of my studio space. Listening to music with lyrics I know by heart allows me to move beyond the story of the music itself and re-enter the story of my own painting process.

The music also inspires me to move my body and embrace the physicality of my artistic practice.

 

Was there a specific instance or time you realized you needed something like Artwork Archive to inventory your artwork and manage your art career? 

After graduate school, I realized I needed a process for keeping inventory of all my artwork, as well as a system to grow my career.

I have always been a Type-A organizer, so I knew I needed a system that would allow me to visually track and categorize my work in a way that would enable me to spend more time on my art and less time in Excel. 

I discovered and joined Artwork Archive back when it was still in its beta stage! It was exactly what I needed at the time––a thoughtful way to categorize and inventory my work––and it continues to grow alongside my career’s needs with invoicing capabilities, exhibition tracking, seamless portfolio production, sales tracking, opportunity resources, and more.

I joined Artwork Archive and have never looked back. I could not be happier with it.

 

Mel Reese Reese's studio with Artwork Archive open on her computer screen. Photo courtesy of the artist

 

How do you use Artwork Archive on a daily basis? 

Artwork Archive has become an integral piece of my overall art career. I don’t think I would be able to sell my work if I didn’t have the easy, yet extremely professional interface Artwork Archive provides.

From the initial inquiry to the point of actual sale, Artwork Archive is there with me the entire way. 

Whenever I produce a body of work, I upload it and quickly categorize the pieces, grouping them together with the help of the Collections feature.

If a gallery is interested in what work I have available from a specific series, I can easily put together a Portfolio Page of each piece, with all the relevant details clearly and professionally listed below each painting. If someone is interested in purchasing one of my paintings, I shoot them over a professional Invoice I produced in seconds.

One of my favorite features is Private Rooms. I love using this feature to create a separate sales platform for each body of work that I can easily link to from my website. It's also great for clients who may not know exactly what they're interested in purchasing; I can curate a specific collection of pieces catered to their specific needs. I’ve also used this feature to offer sales to my network, allowing them to peruse and purchase the sale directly within Artwork Archive.

 

What advice would you give an artist who’s just starting out in their professional career?

It's never too early to give your art the respect it deserves.

Treat yourself as a professional from day one. 

Get organized, provide clients with easy and professional invoices, track your exhibition history, stay on top of your expenses and income, and track and apply to opportunities—all in one easy platform like Artwork Archive—so you can spend the majority of your time doing what is most important: creating the work.

 

Mel Reese uses Artwork Archive to professionalize her practice, streamline art sales, and more.

You can make an online portfolio, catalog your artwork, and generate reports like inventory reports, tear sheets, and invoices in seconds with Artwork Archive. Take a look at Artwork Archive's free trial and start growing your art business.