Details:

This painting depicts the vestiges of a figure’s ear in a diagonal shaft of yellow light. The light absorbs and abstracts the figure—allowing the everyday rhythms and sensations that arise in the body to become visible alongside the subtle external forces that are exerted on the body.
Framed: 23.2 x 19.4 x 1.5 in.
Signed

① Artwork:

It comes as a quite voice

This painting depicts the vestiges of a figure’s ear in a diagonal shaft of yellow light. The light absorbs and abstracts the figure—allowing the everyday rhythms and sensations that arise in the body to become visible alongside the subtle external forces that are exerted on the body. The composition's textures of light and nature situate the piece within both the biology of the body and the natural rhythms of the surrounding environment.

Encompassing paintings and drawings, Braathen's work seamlessly transitions between elements of skillful figuration and expressive and ambient abstraction. A unique blend of genres, traditions and technique, the artist's style melds close observations of both nature and human dynamics with a theatricality tuned to an acute emotional register. Braathen’s work explores life’s constant becomings in compositions that feature bodied abstraction, meditative paint swirls and masterful grooves of balanced coloration.

Specs:

16.1 inches
20 inches
with frame
19.4 inches
23.2 inches
1.5 inches
23.2 inches

③ Artist:

Melinda Braathen

Melinda Braathen’s work combines close observation of nature with an acutely attuned emotional sensibility and theatricality. Blending genres, traditions and techniques, the artist’s paintings and drawings seamlessly transition between skillful figuration and abstraction. Braathen’s compositions employ meditative swirls of paint and balanced coloration to depict the flux of life and its constant becomings.

BIO:

Melinda Braathen was born in Oslo, Norway in 1985. The artist received a BFA from Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York in 2007. Braathen has also studied painting at the New York Studio School in New York City.

Exhibitions that have shown Braathen’s work have taken place at: Baert Gallery in Los Angeles, California; Eastside International in Los Angeles, California; Last Projects in Los Angeles, California; Coaxial Gallery in Los Angeles, California; and Kwadrat in Berlin, Germany.

Braathen lives and works in Los Angeles, California.

Melinda Braathen:
It comes as a quite voice, 2022
Pencil color on paper
20.0 × 16.1 inches /