Melissa Gillam

March 28, 2001

Artist Statement

Painting for me is a reaction to a sense of being out of place or uncomfortable.

Sticking out like a sore thumb, feeling odd, weird or that you don’t belong. It is for this
reason that my paintings are so bold and vibrant. My initial paintings were based on a
grid structure. This grid formation is altered and manipulated to produce illusions and
optical effects. The resulting effect is one of optical disruption, causing the viewer to feel
uncomfortable. The spaces bulge and contract, move forward and back, disorienting the
viewer. A discomforting and peculiar position results. The usual sense of gravity and
distance is lost placing the viewer in a space of discomfort or uncertainty. These effects
are achieved through the manipulation of formal aspects of the work; such as colour and
the distance or the relation of the lines to one another. In effect, these paintings are
representations of the sensation or experience of discomfort. They produce a similar
feeling or experience of discomfort for the viewer.

Recent works are like the previous works, but they also become grounded in
popular culture. Choosing to use colours from consumer culture and fashion trends
broadens the discussion and the experience of the works. They now deal with the desire
to purchase and the need that these sources produce to perpetuate this buying behavior.
The spatial effects add to the experience of the colours. For example, by placing all the
Gap colours in bands on the canvas, you begin to see the variety that is offered. Being
able to buy a shirt in multiple colours, you’ll want one of each. The lines perpetuate in the
same way. A manipulation is achieved with the size of the lines, which increase, decrease
and increase repeatedly. Disorientation doesn’t occur to the same extent as in previous
works but there is a feeling of being overwhelmed. These paintings, like the Gap are a
manifestation of a desire to fit in. The Gap is a popular trendy place to shop. Purchasing
their clothing is a means to fitting in, a way of defeating this discomfort. My paintings in
effect do the dame thing. They are produced to resolve or defeat these sensations in my
own life. They become a way for me to take control of these sensations of discomfort or
uncertainty in my life.
 The traditions of optical and formalist painting are the basis on which the
manipulations take place. These traditions are adopted as a starting point for the works.
From there I can add different manipulations to convey any concerns or feelings.
Ultimately all the work is related to, or is grounded in, everything that we experience in
today’s world which is inundated with mass consumer culture, advertising, and everything
we can experience in the visual world. It is from this visual world that I often find patterns
of structures that I translate into my paintings. For example, I take patterns or colour
combinations from advertising, popular culture or nature. All are sources that surround
me in my everyday life or that I choose to observe. I am interested in the way that people
choose to see or rather the way in which they see due to other influences. We are so
overwhelmed with images and other forms of visual stimulation. This means we have
more things to deal with in our everyday lives.

The most recent works deal again with the more formal qualities of painting.
However, they also deal with the opposition of the linear and the painterly. Through
dealing with these opposite forms of painting at the same time I hope to resolve the desire
that I have, to work in both a systematic formalist manner as well as a looser and more
expressive way. Again, the structure is grounded in the same way as previous paintings.
The motive is taken from the visual world and stimulation from everyday life. Resolving
these things is a way for me to determine or deal with these things that surround me. With
the more formalist stripe paintings I am attempting to resolve and control, while with the
looser paintings is an attempt to let go. There is to be a balance between the two; both in
the painting and in the ways that I approach the world around me.

This technique has developed out of an appreciation for the formalist and optical
artists like Bridget Riley, Agnes Martin, Richard Anuskiewicz, and Ellsworth Kelly. I also
admire more abstract art such as the work of Karin Davie. Admiring and relating to
abstract art comes from it’s introspective and contemplative nature. It is this introspective
nature that I find suits the feelings or experiences I like to portray in my art. Producing art
is ultimately about dealing with things that matter to you in your experience as a human
being. For me dealing with these things in my art is a process of finding or following my
path in life.