Melinda Braathen

Melinda Braathen relies on drawing to initially capture a fleeting encounter, memory, insight or sensation arising in everyday experiences. Her work is often situated in the physical body and explores the role physiology plays on our psychology and perception. In her paintings, she uses texture, full of contrast and movement, gradations, and energetic brushwork to break down representational and recognizable triggers – like faces, figures, and environments – until a more embodied, abstract language emerges. Through a process of erasure and reconstruction, Braathen’s paintings slowly  layer in and integrate the more subtle forces and feeling-tones underlying the original experience. While Braathen generally draws from personal experience, she also pulls from literature, poetry, and interviews between innovative thinkers from different disciplines to explore the inexhaustible architecture of human encounter and conversation.