Melinda Braathen

Biography

Melinda Braathen’s paintings navigate psychological states and sensory experiences, pulling viewers into abstract landscapes that embody movement, tension, and transformation. Her practice begins with personal photographs, which she reimagines through gouache studies before developing her intricate oil paintings. The painting’s surface, full of variegated brushwork, oscillates between the sacred and the unsettling, evoking the emotional and ecological unease reflective of our human condition. Inspired by Edvard Munch’s exploration of inward and outward realities, Braathen’s paintings create spaces that invite contemplation where the boundaries between internal psychological states and external natural forces blur. Her works evoke the unpredictable power of nature and humanity’s tenuous relationship with it.

Melinda Braathen lives and works in Los Angeles. She earned her BFA from Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, US in 2007. Her recent exhibitions include Soft Bodies, UC Santa Barbara, CA, US (2025); Atmosphere, Baert Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, US (2024); Charged Bodies, Golsa, Oslo, Norway (2023); Alice Folker, Copenhagen, Denmark (2023); Currents, Baert Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, US (2022). Her work is included in numerous collections, including in the USA, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Norway, Greece, Nigeria, Czech Republic, and United Arab Emirates.

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