Melissa Herrington

Venice, CA, United States

About Melissa Herrington

ABOUT THE ARTIST // Melissa Herrington is a contemporary abstract artist currently living and working in Los Angeles, California. She has called Southern California home since 2005 where she received her MFA from Otis College of Art and Design. Prior to that, she spent most of her early career in Atlanta, Georgia and has a BFA from Florida State University. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally. IN HER WORDS // "My paintings are representative of my path, which is inspired by adventure and independence, and my love of color and texture. For me travel is a major catalyst for my evolving themes and artistic practice. In all my works color and shape are both organic, intuitive and feminine." ABOUT THE WORK // Herrington creates large-scale, gestural paintings that are built up through layers of paint on canvas overlaid with mark-making using graphite, charcoal and pigments. Herrington’s recent paintings explore the complexities of transformation. Each work functions as both an individual entity and as a part of a larger theme. Herrington explores spontaneous marks and subtle forms through abstraction. Recurring figural motifs repeat throughout the paintings, acting as a sort of visual vocabulary, a secret language. Layers are fundamental to her imagery and process, infusing each work with multiple surfaces. Loosely sketched forms blend into whites and grays, contrasted by whole abstracted fields, as colors exhale forth an intimate narrative. Floating colors and unsteady shapes blend on the surface of spilling muted tones and marks are meticulously irregular appearing as though left unintentionally by a trace. At the heart of Herrington's artistic practice is an unmistakable relationship between distilled color and form. Standing before a singular canvas in this series, one is immediately drawn in by a strong and powerful feeling of transformation. As contoured shapes emerge from the abstract, the viewer is witness to form unfolding, creating new visual possibilities, evoking a sense of wonder.

Education:

EDUCATION MFA, OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN, 2008
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
BFA, FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY, 1997
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA

Events:

ARTIST IN RESIDENCY
2016 Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts
2015 Cill Rialaig Residency, County Kerry Ireland
2012 LaSallian International Residency, Tuscany, Italy 
2010 CAMAC, Marnay sur Seine, France 
2009 Sandberg Institute Fellowship, Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, Holland
2006 Idyllwild center for the Arts, Paintings Edge Residency, Idyllwild, California
2005-2001 Hambidge center for the creative arts, Rabun Gap, Georgia  2002 Hungarian Multicultural Center, Budapest, Hungary

BIBLIOGRAPHY
2019 Saatchi Catalog Spring/ Fall Edition
2015 Anthropoglgie Catologe
2013 Wall Street Journal March 8, 2013 
2010 “HANDless”, Review Katie Schultz August 2010 
2010 The Yellow House, Book Cover author Robin Behn 
2008 “Where are the women?” Review: Sabina Dana Plasse
2005 Atlanta Journal Constitution, Review: Jerry Cullum April 17, 200 2004 Chattanooga Times, Review: Ann Nichols D-6 September 19, 2004  2004 Atlanta Magazine pg 107 May 2004

Exhibitions:

CURRICULUM VITAE //
MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS
2020 Solo Exhibition
Coral Springs Museum of Art, Coral Springs, Florida
EDUCATION
2008 Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, California MFA 1997 Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida BFA
SOLO GALLERY EXHIBITIONS
2020 Christopher Martin Gallery, Dallas, Texas
2019 “Under the Spell of the Rose Moon” Soren Christensen Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana
2016 “On the Fabric of the Infinite” Soren Christensen Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana
2016 “Ireland” Chicago Art Source, Chicago Illinois
2013 And the Flame Stitches that Empty Chasm Shut, Gallery DeNovo, Sun Valley, Idaho 2012 Ashes To Honey, M Herrington Gallery, Los Angeles, California 
2012 Reveille, Soren Christensen Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana 
2010 HANDless, Gallery DeNovo, Sun Valley, Idaho
2010 Veiled Vision, Gallery DeNovo, ArtChicago, Chicago, Illinois 
2009 Little Girls in Pretty Boxes, Soren Christensen Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana 2008 Lighght, Gallery DeNovo, Sun Valley, Idaho 
2008 Echoes of Sight, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, California 2007 New Paintings, Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia 
2007 Shadow Memories, Gallery DeNovo, Sun Valley, Idaho 
2006 Soul Sessions, Gallery DeNovo, Sun Valley, Idaho 
2005 Long Shadows, Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia 
2004 Gifts of Passage, Gallery DeNovo, Sun Valley, Idaho 

2004 Travel Stains, Association for Visual Artist, Chattanooga, Tennessee  2004 Sleep Stories With Separate Spheres, Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia 2002 Budapest and Beyond, ArtFarm, Atlanta, Georgia 
2002 New Works, Delta Technology Center, Atlanta, Georgia
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019 Art New York, Galleria Ca’ D’ORo, NYC
2019 Scope Art Fair, Miami Art Week, Vogelsang Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2019 Saatchi Art Fair, Los Angles, Chicago, Dallas,
2019 Group Show, Galleria Ca’ D’ORo, NYC
2019 “Women in Abstraction” Christopher Martin Gallery, Dallas, TX 2018 Scope Art Fair, Miami Art Week, Vogelsang Gallery
2018 Saatchi Art Fair, Los Angles, Chicago, New York, Dallas, London 2016 “5 Artist, Assemblage”
Florida State University, Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, Florida
2016 "Summer Group Show" Slate Contemporary,
2016 “Abstract - Form” Gilman Contemporary, Sun Valley, Idaho
2015 “Liminal Spaces” Slate Contemporary, Oakland, CA
2013 Soren Christensen Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana 2009 Soren Christensen Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana 2007 St George Art Museum, St George, Utah 
2007 Our Artist, Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia 2007 New Works, Renee George Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina 
2007 Art Miami, Gallery DeNovo, Miami, Florida 
2007 Mid Residency Show, Bolsky Gallery, Los Angeles, California 
2006 Exquisite Corpus, Atlanta Center for the Contemporary Arts, Atlanta, Georgia 2006 Depth and Surface, Gallery DeNovo, Sun Valley, Idaho
2005 PB3 Art Palm Beach, Fay Gold Gallery, Palm Beach, Florida 2004 Group Show, Vizivarosi Gallery, Budapest, Hungary 
2002 16 International Artists, Balatonfured, Hungary 2002 Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia 
2001 Opening Doors, Agnes Scott University, Decatur Georgia 
2001 Feminine Images of God, Columbia Seminary College, Atlanta, Georgia