Douglas Melini | Ocula Magazine

Douglas Melini at Miles McEnery Gallery

This luminous painting on reclaimed wood by Douglas Melini is featured in Miles McEnery Gallery's presentation centred on artists who have contributed to the development of contemporary painting. Melini, who joined the gallery in early 2021 and will have his first solo exhibition with them in autumn 2021, received his Bachelor of Arts from Maryland, College Park in 1994, followed by a Master of Fine Arts from California Institute of the Arts in 1997.

Combining brilliant colour combinations with geometric order, Melini's works recall those of Frank Stella, while occasionally veering into more complex patterns. In 2016, for instance, Melini created a series of paintings—presented at Van Doren Waxter—that featured the pattern of his childhood bedroom's wallpaper, recalling both decorative traditions and the modernist grid. His recent paintings on wood combine patterns from the natural world with geometric abstraction, resulting in enticing textures through their weathered surfaces. —[O]