Art, Color Science, and The History of Human Knowledge: Studio Research by Melissa Carmon

Could an all-but-forgotten color system unlock the work of the great artists? A short video of my recent exploration of the Munsell and Ostwald color spaces, and a new series of paintings. The hybridization of these two historical color systems may yield benefits for fine art painters.

Eternal Color- 12 Portrait Series

What would it mean for a person to influence the world for fourteen centuries after their lifespan? This series highlights 12 historical individuals who impacted Western Culture in various ways— some of them, for centuries. The paintings use color narratively to highlight the uniqueness of each personality. For each, I composed a poem, which distills the details of their histories into a form that highlights the emotional impact of their story.

Eternal Color Exhibition-Interdisciplinary Fusion Opening Night

Paintings, poetry, philosophy, and music come together at the Eternal Color Exhibition. A concert performance by a flute-piano duo on opening night of the exhibition added another multi-sensory layer of interpretation. This link shows the event surrounding the opening night for the portrait series.

The Philosopher

This portrait, which investigates themes of time, old age, meaning, purpose, temperament, and history, was created using techniques from the 1940s Art Students League of New York. In early 2020, it was shipped across the Atlantic to a wharf in London to be judged by the National Portrait Gallery in consideration for the BP Portrait Prize.

Painting Film History: Lil Nas X and Calmatic's Old Town Road

This painting was created from a series of stills from Calmatic’s Old Town Road Video. Painted before his video won at the MTV Music Video Awards, I chose this scene portraying the moment of transformation for the main character (Lil Nas X) as his character transitions into a new role in a new cultural context.

Chroma Series: Orange and Blue Collection

These abstract studies explore not only a landscape of feeling but the terrain of the palette itself. Drawing from texts written a century ago by Redon, Renoir, and Chevreul, these studies use mixing complementaries to achieve harmonies using visual complementary colors.

Chroma Series: Red and Aqua Collection

What makes color sing, and what if what we are commonly taught about the color turns out to be incorrect? This series follows in the footsteps of notable colorists among the Post-Impressionists. It combines color theory with modern studies in color mixing to create color studies that make a person want to keep looking.

Pigment Dictionary

Pigment information is complex, and ranges from chemical composition, to binding oil compatibility, to background on a given color’s exotic origin story. This pigment dictionary compiles my handwritten notes with swatches of over a hundred contemporary and historical paints.

Art and Tech Commission for HID Global

HID Global, a identity access company, commissioned me to create 9 paintings of the hardware inside of their devices. The paintings are currently displayed at their global headquarters in Austin, TX.

Edwin James Exhibition: 200th Anniversary of Expedition to Study Colorado Native Plants Species

A commission of 10 drawings of Colorado Native Plant Species to celebrate the bicentennial of botanist Edwin James’s expedition to Pike’s Peak in July of 1820. This is the fruit of a research project involving the history of botany, evolution of taxonomy (changing plant names) engagement with the original account, and of course the locale of the exhibit. To increase viewer engagement, I focused the series on wildflowers that would be most often encountered while visitors to the exhibition hike Pikes Peak.

Porfolio

Portfolio

— C A R m o n, L t d.—

Fine Art Painting

Porfolio

Portfolio

— C A R m o n, L t d.—