ABOUT MELISSA
Melissa Herrington is a contemporary abstract artist currently living and working in Los Angeles, California. She has called Southern California home since 2005 where she received her MFA from Otis College of Art and Design. Prior to that, she spent most of her early career in Florida and has a BFA from Florida State University. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally.
ABOUT PROCESS
My aim is to create abstract paintings that are contemplative and evocative. The organic quality of my textured marks lends an ephemeral feeling, images imply fluidity. This “unfinished” surface represents an unfolding of possibility. I use the transparent stains and the opaqueness of color. My work examines the theme of transformation.
ABOUT INSPIRATION
Herrington creates large-scale, abstract paintings that are built up through layers of paint on canvas overlaid with mark-making using graphite, charcoal and pigments. Herrington’s newest works explore the complexities of transformation. Each work functions as both an individual entity and as a part of a larger theme of process. Herrington explores spontaneous marks and subtle forms through abstraction. Layers are fundamental to her imagery and process, infusing each work with multiple surfaces. Colors and unsteady shapes blend on the surface where irregular marks appear as though left unintentionally by a trace. Loosely sketched forms blend into whites and grays, contrasted by whole abstracted fields. These forms exist within the space of the painting; yet also allude to an outside source. At the heart of Herrington's artistic practice is an unmistakable relationship between distilled color and form. Standing before a singular canvas in this series, one is immediately drawn in by a strong and powerful presence, with painterly veils and swathes of solid color that are paused mid flow. There is a balance of figure and ground creating a powerful and delicate tension. As contoured shapes emerge from the abstract, the viewer is witness to form revealing, creating new visual possibilities, evoking a sense of joy and wonder.
Infinity Arts Foundation
As Co- Founder, Melissa I am very passionate about the creation of the Infinity Arts Foundation.
It is a place where Where STEAM meets the power of STORY.
Headquartered in Los Angeles and Sun Valley, Infinity Arts Foundation, amplifies and supports the high-achieving work of remarkable people, across disciplines, in science and discovery – commonly referred to as S.T.E.A.M. We do this through our two signature programs – The Infinity Film Fund and our Infinity Artist in- Residency Programs.
The Infinity Film Fund develops, curates and champions projects for small and large screen. Our focus is to share the extraordinary lives, experiences and expeditions of people of science making groundbreaking discoveries about the world in which we find ourselves. By leveraging the power of story to share under-recognized extraordinary people in STEAM, we educate and inspire the next generation of problem solvers and solution seekers.
Exhibitions
2022 // SOLO EXHIBITION
CORAL SPRINGS MUSEUM OF ART
2022 // Solo Show, Spillman Blackwell Fine Art, New Orleans, LA
2022 // "Elusive Figure" Chicago Art Source, Chicago
2022 // "Rites of Springs" Christopher Martin Gallery, Houston, TX
2022 // Palm Beach Art Fair
GALLERIA CA' D'ORO, NYC / Miami
2021 // Context ART MIAMI
2021 // Cube Art Fair, Times Square NYC, NY
2021 // "Where Time is somehow lost" Chase Edwards Gallery, Hamptons NY
2021 // Art Hamptons NY
GALLERIA CA' D'ORO, NYC / Miami
2020 // Saatchi Art Fair
2020 // Solo Show "New Work"
Lanoue Gallery, Boston
2020 Christopher Martin Gallery, Dallas, Texas
2019 // Saatchi Art Fair, NYC
2019 // SCOPE ART MIAMI
2019 // Saatchi Art Fair, LA
2019 // Saatchi Art Fair LONDON
2019 // "Women In Abstraction"Christopher Martin Gallery, Dallas, Texas
2019 “Under the Spell of the Rose Moon” Soren Christensen Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana
2018 // Saatchi Art Fair, NYC / LA
2017 // Art Santa Fe
2017 // Saatchi Art Fair LA
2016 // Solo Show, Ireland,
Chicago Art Source, Chicago, Illinois
2016 // Solo Show, Soren Christensen Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana
2104 // Solo Exhibition, Daughter of the Wind,
Los Angeles, California
2013 // Solo Show, And the Flame Stitches that Empty Chasm Shut, Gallery DeNovo, Sun Valley, Idaho
2012 // Solo Show, Ashes To Honey, M Herrington Gallery,
Los Angeles, California
2012 // Solo Show, Reveille, Soren Christensen Gallery,
New Orleans, Louisiana
2010 // Solo Show, HANDless, Gallery DeNovo,
Sun Valley, Idaho
2010 // Veiled Vision, Gallery DeNovo, ArtChicago, Chicago, Illinois
2009 // Solo Show, Little Girls in Pretty Boxes, Soren Christensen Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana
2008 // Solo Show, Lighght, Gallery DeNovo,
Sun Valley, Idaho
2008 // Solo Show, Echoes of Sight, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, California
2007 // Solo Show, New Paintings, Fay Gold Gallery,
Atlanta, Georgia
2007 // Shadow Memories, Gallery DeNovo,
Sun Valley, Idaho
2006 // Solo Show, Soul Sessions, Gallery DeNovo, Sun Valley, Idaho
2005 // Solo Show, Long Shadows, Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta
2004 // Gifts of Passage, Gallery DeNovo,
Sun Valley, Idaho
2004 // Solo Show, Travel Stains, Association for Visual Artist, Chattanooga, Tennessee
2004 // Solo Show, Sleep Stories With Separate Spheres,
Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
2002 // Solo Show, Budapest and Beyond, ArtFarm,
Atlanta, Georgia
2002 // Solo Show, New Works, Delta Technology Center, Atlanta, Georgia
Curriculum Vitae
Present- 2002 Artist // Melissa Herrington Art
Professional Full Time Artist
2012 M. Herrington Gallery, Venice CA,
Owner/Director
1997-2002 Vermilion Art Gallery, Atlanta, GA
1997- Internship // Museum of Fine Arts, Florida
State University, Tallahassee Florida
1996- Internship // Museum of Fine Arts, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, Florida
Artist in Residency
2016 Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts, Rabun Gap, Georgia
2015 Cill Rialaig Residency, County Kerry Ireland
2012 LaSallian International Residency,
Tuscany, Italy
2010 CAMAC, Marnay sur Seine, France
2009 Sandberg Institute Fellowship,
Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, Holland
2006 Idyllwild center for the Arts, Paintings Edge Residency, Idyllwild, California
2014-2001 Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts, Rabun Gap, Georgia
2002 Hungarian Multicultural Center, Budapest, Hungary
Education
2008, Otis College of Art and Design
Los Angeles, California MFA Studio Art
1997, Florida State University
Tallahassee, Florida BFA Studio Art
Honors, Minor in Art History
Bibliography
2015 Anthropologie Feature
2013 Wall Street Journal March 8, 2013
2010 HANDless, Review Katie Schultz August
2010 The Yellow House, Book Cover author Robin Behn
2008 Where are the women? Review: Sabina Dana Plasse August 13, 2008
2005 Atlanta Journal Constitution, Review: Jerry Cullum L-3 April 17, 2005
2004 Chattanooga Times, Review: Ann Nichols D-6 September 19, 2004
2004 Atlanta Magazine pg 107 May 2004
