KENISE BARNES FINE ART 1947 Palmer Avenue Larchmont, New York 10538 www.kbfa.com (914) 834-8077
Melanie Parke
The Voice in Every Object September 17 – October 29, 2016
Th e Voice i n E v e r y O b j e c t p a i n t i n g s b y M e l a n i e P a r k e
Kenise Barnes Fine Art is pleased to open the fall season with the debut exhibition of Michigan artist Melanie Parke. The exhibition is titled The Vo i c e i n E v e r y O b j e c t , a q u o t e t a k e n f r o m a S a p p h o f r a g m e n t . I t a p t l y reflects Parke’s idea that objects, flowers, and places bind her to a lifetime of friendships and memories. Pastoral interior settings and still l i f e t a b l e a u s a r e s u f f u s e d w i t h m e m o r y, t h e i m p l i c a t i o n o f t i m e ’ s p a s s i n g and of longing and comfort. The voice in each painting speaks also of the palpable pleasure of painting itself. Parke paints in broad gestures with textured open brushwork giving way to small moments, marks that seem to alight on the surfaces of patterned vases, picture frames and tablecloths. Birds and flowers populate her paintings, blurring the interior and the bucolic outside world. Parke’s composition exists in a beautiful state of flux, the elements forever deconstructing and recomposing themselves. Evoking the rich art historical tradition of pattern painters such as Bonnard and Vuillard, Parke subverts the notion of surface and ground, subject and object. Each object in her paintings takes turns asserting itself in a visual narrative of love and companionship. Melanie Parke is a native of Indiana, and now lives in her family cottage in Michigan with her husband who is also an artist. Parke has been the recipient of numerous residencies including a two-time visiting artist at The American Academy in Rome. Parke’s work is exhibited widely throughout the United States.
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The Voice in Every Object, 2015, oil on canvas, 40 x 44 inches, $5500.
Amaryllis Table, 2016, oil on canvas, 35 x 40 inches, $4900.
Grass Vase, 2016 oil on canvas 18 x 14 inches $2300.
Pastoral and bucolic still life settings emerge from my own life. I filter and reconstruct them through the ideology of memory. Flowers bind me to friendships and the women in my life, and I take that sentiment to craft forms on the surface which reference lush clusters of time. Painting is a pleasure-seeking process for me and abstraction a vehicle with which to think and begin. I set up the space intuitively, in broad and textured gestures, then piece together arrangements to compose a homespun narrative. Specific interiors and landscapes are often implied. Shifting the emphasis to pattern, texture and tone, I work to destabilize notions of exacting representation. This is an effort to build on a sensation of memory which conjures both comfort and longing. - Melanie Parke
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Opposite page: Blue Urn, 2016, oil on canvas, 38 x 42 inches, $5400.
Night Birds, 2016, oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inches, $4600.
Night Orchids, 2016, oil on canvas, 24 x 30 inches, $3500.
Orchid Table, 2016, oil on canvas, 48 x 52 inches, $7500.
Paule's Table, 2015, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches, $8000.
Red Cottage, 2016, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches, $8000.
Spring Bulbs, 2015 -'16 oil on canvas, 12 x 12 inches, $1600.
Rustic Window, 2016 oil on canvas 63 x 33 inches $7200.
Red Fiesta, 2016, oil on canvas, 36 x 48 inches, $5500.
The Voice in Every Object, 2015 oil on canvas 40 x 44 inches, $5500.
Tapestry Vases, 2016 oil on canvas 20 x 20 inches $2900.
Yellow Iris, 2016, oil on canvas, 44 x 49 inches, $6200.
MELANIE PARKE
CV 2016
SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2016 2012 2011 2008 2006 
The Voice in Every Object, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, NY Tory Folliard Gallery, Milwaukee, WI Anne Loucks, Glencoe, IL Modern Arts Midwest, Lincoln, NE Wright Gallery, Northport, MI
GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2017 2016
Driven to Abstraction curated by Caroline Blum, Susan Eley Fine Art, NY, NY Italian Airs, Schema Projects, New York, NY Peonies at a Crime Scene with Julie Alexander and Peter Shear, curated by Julie Alexander, Neon Heater Gallery, Findlay, OH Wallflowers, Tory Folliard Gallery, Milwaukee, WI Open Pomegranate curated by Frankie Gardiner, Curating Contemporary.com Luck of the Draw curated by Trent Miller, Madison Public Library, Madison, WI Graham Nickson Juried Show, Prince Street Gallery, New York, NY
2015
Melanie Parke & Carey Watters, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, NY Melanie Parke & Richard Kooyman, Anne Loucks Gallery, Glencoe, IL Going Big curated by Suzan Shutan & Susan Carr, Central Booking, NY, NY Figural, BLK MARKT, Traverse City, MI curated by Richard Kooyman The Figure Show, Warm Springs Gallery, Warm Springs, VA The Figure and the Landscape, Water Street Gallery, Douglas, MI
2014
Anniversary Show, The Painting Center, New York, NY Lois Dodd Juried Show, First Street Gallery, New York, NY The Painters Table, Warm Springs Gallery, Warm Springs, VA Not So Still Life, Water Street Gallery, Douglas, MI Summer Salon, Ober Gallery, Kent, CT The New Still Life, Tory Folliard Gallery, Milwaukee, WI Fresh as Form, curated by Aubrey Levinthal, Lauren Garvey and Derrick Quevedo, CuratingContemporary.com DO IT YOURSELF, curated by Julie Torres, Bushwick, NY
2013
What I Like About You, curated by Julie Torres, Parallel Art Space, Ridgewood, NY & Imogen Holloway Gallery, Saugerties, NY Through the Window, Anne Irwin Gallery, Atlanta, GA 25th Anniversary Show, Tory Folliard Gallery, Milwaukee, WI DebtFair, curated by Members of Occupy Museums, DebtFair, NY, NY
2012
Euphemize, curated by Paul Hopkins, Slow, Chicago, IL Artists Book Show, curated by Dee Clements, Papercrane, Chicago, IL
2011
San Francisco Fine Arts Fair, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM Marji Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM Tvedten Fine Art, Harbor Springs, MI
2010
The Painting Show, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM Femininity in Paint with Cora Cohen, Margie Stewart, Kiki Slaughter, Emily Amy Gallery, Atlanta , GA
2009
Paint as Subject with Carl Plansky, Dorothy Goode, Cara Entels, Emily Amy Gallery, Atlanta, GA Melanie Parke & Richard Kooyman, Anne Loucks Gallery, Glencoe, IL
2008
Field and Flower, Tvedten Fine Art, Harbor Springs, MI
2007
2D 3D; Melanie Parke, Mary Bates Neubauer, Aaron Karp , Emilio Lobato, David Mazza, and Bernice Strawn, William Havu Gallery, Denver, CO Four Painters, BSG Modern, Atlanta, GA Basel Miami, Gebben Gray Gallery, Fennville, MI He Said, She Said, Tvedten Fine Art, Harbor Springs, MI
VISITING ARTIST & RESIDENCIES 2016 2015 2014 2012-2007 2009 2000 1999 1998 1996 1994
American Academy in Rome, Visiting Artist, Rome, Italy American Academy in Rome, Visiting Artist, Rome, Italy Borgo Finocchieto Invitational Residency, Tuscany, Italy Invitational Private Residency, North Manitou Island, MI Heliker - LaHotan Foundation, Cranberry Isles, ME Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, MI Acadia National Park, ME Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, WV Yosemite National Park, CA Badlands National Park, SD Buffalo National River, AR Dorland Mountain Colony, CA
EXTENDED STUDIES 2016 2016 2012
The Oplontis Project Symposium, Kelsey Museum, Ann Arbor, MI Leisure and Luxury in the Age of Nero: The Villas of Oplontis near Pompeii, a Conference, University of Michigan Open Engagement Conference, Portland, OR Klein Art Works Seminar with Paul Klein, Chicago, IL
2011 2010 1998 1994 1983
Hand In Glove Conference for Independent Arts Organizers, Chicago, IL New York Studio School, Drawing Marathon with Ron Schubrook, NY, NY Oxbow Summer School, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL Outward Bound, Mount Katahdin, ME Carleton College Summer Writing Program, Northfield, MN
CURATORIAL, COLLABORATIVE & INDEPENDENT PROJECTS 2016
2015 2014
2012
1995
Cold Summer curated by Peter Shear, The Provincial, Chief, MI Sarah Nesbit, Solo Exhibition, The Provincial, Chief, MI TBA, curated by Peter Shear, The Provincial, Chief, MI Kestrel Blue Hendrickson, Fellowship Program, The Provincial, Chief, MI Frankie Gardiner, Mountain Reveries et Cetera, The Provincial, Chief, MI Provincial Residency Introduced Meanwhile Back at the Farm, with Yevgeniya Baras, Mike Olin, Clare Grill,Suzanne Goldenberg, Maria Britton,and Shanna Maurizi DO IT YOURSELF, Bushwick Open Studios, Brooklyn, NY Collaborative Painting with Stephen Wright, Michigan, Tennessee, NY Care Package Project with Jonathan Hartshorn, Chicago, IL Don’t Tell Me How to Love, Socially Engaged Art, Chicago, IL Immigrant Movement International Actions with Tania Bruguera, Chicago, IL After Rain Daddy with Paul Breschuk, Book Collaboration, Chicago & Toronto P.A.I.R, National Park Artist in Residence Initiative Proposing 30 AIR Programs
EDUCATION 1989 1984
B.F.A. The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL Herron School of Art, Indianapolis, IN Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory High School, Indianapolis, IN
BIBLIOGRAPHY Post Road Magazine, Issue 28, 2015 Chu, Barbara Perrine. “Melanie Parke.” Pink Pagoda Studio, pinkpagodastudio.blogspot.com, August 25, 2015 Edmonds, Brian. “Current Exhibition: Richard Kooyman & Melanie Parke. Anne Loucks Gallery. Glencoe, IL.” curatingcontemporary.com, February 7, 2015. Rutherford, Micheal. “Melanie Parke.” Painters Bread, paintersbread.com, February 8, 2014. Gibson, Steve. “Melanie Parke.” Mockingbird, mockingbirdthoughtz.blogspot.com, August 3, 2014. Annette, Khadija. “Melanie Parke.” A Beautiful Bridge, khadija-annette.com, October 26, 2013 Schwartz, Julia. “To Live and Paint (and Curate) in Bushwick and Beyond.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 24 June 2013. MacInness, Stephen B. “Have You Met...Melanie Parke?” Painters Progress. sbmacinnis.wordpress.com, 30 May 2013. Andrews, Jason. “From the Six Zones of BOS: Hoarders, Hotel, and The Bureau of Self- Recognition | Norte Maar for Collaborative Projects in the Arts.” Norte Maar for Collaborative Projects in the Arts, Nortmaar.com, 30 May 2013 Baker, Brett. “What I Like About You.” At Parallel Art Space, Bushwick, Brooklyn. Painters-Table.com, May 2013 Gat, Yifat. “Look&listen: What I Like About You / Organized by Julie Torres.” Contemporary-DrawingSalon.blogspot.com, May 2013 Hartigan, Philip A. “Making an Artistic Life in Northern Michigan.” Hyperallergic, Hyperallergic.com, 9 July 2012 Lowrance, Christopher. “Melanie Parke: Landscapes and Still Lifes.” mwcapacity.wordpress.com, 16 June 2012 Darrow, Susannah. “Feminine Painting: Abstractions About an Abstract Concept?” Burnaway, burnaway.org, 23 February 2010
Melanie Parke’s studio, located in a historic country store in rural Michigan. Photo credit: Melanie Parke