- Venue
- Conway Hall
- Starts
- Wednesday, April 29, 2015
- Ends
- Wednesday, May 27, 2015
- Address
- 25 Red Lion Square WC1R 4RL - near Holborn
- Location
- London
- Organiser
- Conway Hall
Introduced to the Croatian Naive tradition of painting on glass, Melanie has taken this technically challenging medium and made it completely her own, giving it a fully contemporary feeling further enriched by its historic past.
Starting with a plain piece of window glass, the artist begins by painting her name backwards. From there, fine, foreground details are added in first, allowed to dry and then further details, mid-layer motifs and finally the full background sky are added in. Paintings take many months from start to finish, but the final work is stunning in its effect as the bright and bold oil pigments glow and shine under the glass like jewels. Further enhanced again by hand crafted, artisan frames which make each painting more of a 3 dimensional art object than a simple 2 dimensional picture.
This is particularly evident in “Through a Looking Glass” and “Phoenix Dreams” where the transparency of the glass is playfully engaged in creating shadows and depth way beyond traditional Naive expectations.
Originally commissioned for a one week show, this London debut has impressed enough that the host gallery has extended it for a further five weeks.
You can, of course, see the artwork on-line and in photos by visiting www.mjhodge.co.uk – but truly this is a technique best seen and only fully appreciated in person.
