Melissa Manfull’s (NAP #85) solo show Schemata at Taylor De Cordoba is a really great visual embodiment of the artistic process, as it tangibly shows Manfull’s growth and expanding mastery of mediums. Since her first pieces were shown at Taylor De Cordoba in a group show in 2007, her work has changed in subject and color, though not in the detailed, inquisitive nature of her drawings psychological musings. – Ellen C. Caldwell, Los Angeles Contributor
Click HERE to see full article
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Melissa Manfull: Schemata
November 2, 2013 – December 14, 2013
Opening Reception: Saturday November 2, 6-8PM
Taylor De Cordoba is pleased to present Schemata, a solo exhibition of new work by Los Angeles-based artist Melissa Manfull. The exhibit will run from November 2 – December 14, 2013. The gallery will host a reception for the artist on Saturday, November 2 from 6-8PM.
For her current series, Manfull continues to explore themes of control and chaos in her dense application of ink on panel. Her interest here is on game systems that create a psychological fixation, such as in gambling environments (pachinko), repetitive play machines (pinball) and board games. Incorporating the iconography from these games, the artist creates hypnotic patterns of hyper-detailed structures, enticing viewers into a visual trance, much like the addictive games themselves.
Manfull is interested in the discrepancy between the visual language of game design and the actual games being played, hinting at the arbitrary use of certain symbols and themes. Working with a fluorescent, playful palette borrowed from the games themselves, Manfull explores the simultaneously flat and three dimensional aspects of games, while creating her own visual world of conflating feelings and images.
Melissa Manfull received her MFA from Concordia University in Montreal and has exhibited her artwork at The Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, High Energy Constructs in Los Angeles, and Bourget Gallery in Montreal, among others. She lives and works in Los Angeles. This is her third solo exhibition at Taylor De Cordoba.
MELISSA MANFULL: Schemata
November 2, 2013 – December 14, 2013
Opening Reception: Saturday November 2, 6-8PM
Taylor De Cordoba is pleased to present Schemata, a solo exhibition of new work by Los Angeles-based artist Melissa Manfull. The exhibit will run from November 2 – December 14, 2013. The gallery will host a reception for the artist on Saturday, November 2 from 6-8PM.
For her current series, Manfull continues to explore themes of control and chaos in her dense application of ink on panel. Her interest here is on game systems that create a psychological fixation, such as in gambling environments (pachinko), repetitive play machines (pinball) and board games. Incorporating the iconography from these games, the artist creates hypnotic patterns of hyper-detailed structures, enticing viewers into a visual trance, much like the addictive games themselves.
Manfull is interested in the discrepancy between the visual language of game design and the actual games being played, hinting at the arbitrary use of certain symbols and themes. Working with a fluorescent, playful palette borrowed from the games themselves, Manfull explores the simultaneously flat and three dimensional aspects of games, while creating her own visual world of conflating feelings and images.
Melissa Manfull received her MFA from Concordia University in Montreal and has exhibited her artwork at The Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, High Energy Constructs in Los Angeles, and Bourget Gallery in Montreal, among others. She lives and works in Los Angeles. This is her third solo exhibition at Taylor De Cordoba.
Melissa Manfull: Pattern Constraints
September 18 – October 30, 2010
Taylor De Cordoba is pleased to present Pattern Constraints, a new series of drawings by Los Angeles-based artist Melissa Manfull. The exhibition will run from September 18 – October 23, 2010. The gallery will host an opening reception for the artist on Saturday, September 18 from 6pm-8pm.
Seeking inspiration from metaphysics and mysticism, Melissa Manfull creates hyper-detailed structures that straddle the worlds of reality and imagination. Working in a palette that ranges from the subdued and earthy to the mystical and otherworldly, Manfull inserts her stiff geometric shapes within pools of bleeding ink. Thus bringing to mind the idea of a building’s lost limb, detached and floating in space.
The artist’s interest in utopian societies and the ways in which architecture can reflect belief systems inspired these organic yet rigid drawings. And in some ways, the resulting structures, created by fractal patterning, reflect the artist’s personal understanding of the intricate workings of the universe and the mind. Due to the obsessive nature of her process, Manfull has often viewed the meditative act of drawing as a way to approach her fear of vast, open ended space (the unknown). By creating her minute sculptural drawings, she gives this abyss a meaning and in essence, gains control. With her amorphous ink stains, she tries to mimic this emptiness rather than flight it.
Her musings on space are echoed by architecture theorist, Christian Norbert-Schulz, who discusses how buildings are an intermediary between sky and earth. This idea spoke to the artist’s interest in architecture as a means to fill a void (empty space). Manfull’s drawings, in which she attempts to occupy and define the uninhabited are a mediation on these themes.
Melissa Manfull received her MFA from Concordia University Montreal in Canada and has exhibited her artwork at The Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, High Energy Constructs in Los Angeles, and Bourget Gallery in Montreal, among others. She lives and works in Los Angeles.
Melissa Manfull’s recent exhibition, Tesseracts was featured in The Architect’s Newspaper. Click HERE to read the full text.
Laure Joliet wrote an article about Melissa Manfull’s current exhibition, Tesseracts, in Dwell Magazine. Read the full text by clicking HERE.
Melissa Manfull: Tesseracts
February 21 – March 28, 2009
Taylor De Cordoba is pleased to present Tesseracts, a new series of drawings by Los Angeles-based artist Melissa Manfull. The exhibition will run from February 21 – March 28, 2009. The gallery will host an opening reception for the artist on Saturday February 21 from 6pm-8pm.
In this new group of unframed ink on paper pieces, Melissa Manfull creates impossible worlds and structures. Much like science fiction writer Charles Howard, who coined the word “Tesseract” (the four-dimensional analog of the cube) in the late 19th century, Manfull is interested in a reality beyond what we can see and understand in a 3-dimensional world.
Drawing inspiration from science fiction, gothic architecture and mineralogy, Manfull explores the conceptual and visual analogies between naturally occurring structures and those made by humans. Visually, her drawings of towers, arches and organic bursts are arrestingly beautiful and overwhelming in their obsessive detail. Thousands of tiny lines compose the architecture she imaginatively creates.
At once delicate and bold, the work straddles our notions of temporal reality. Are we looking at an existing metropolis, a futuristic utopia or a flashback to Victorian England? Manfull is indeed influenced by Gothic architecture and pulls her muted palette of pinks, moss greens, blues and grays from Victorian interiors and textiles.
Melissa Manfull received her MFA from Concordia University Montreal in Canada and has exhibited her artwork at The Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, High Energy Constructs in Los Angeles, and Bourget Gallery in Montreal, among others. She lives and works in Los Angeles.
I just did a studio visit with Melissa Manfull and am blown away by her new ink on paper pieces. We installed them in our gallery back room right away. Click on the image to see all the beautiful details. Please email if interested.
Taylor De Cordoba is thrilled to be participating in Aqua Art Miami 2007 at the Aqua Hotel.
Fair dates:
December 6- 9
Exhibiting works by…
Sasha Bezzubov + Jessica Sucher
Kimberly Brooks
Ryan Callis
Frohawk Two Feathers
Kyle Field
Timothy Hull
Charlene Liu
Melissa Manfull
Claire Oswalt
Jeana Sohn
Taylor De Cordoba is pleased to be participating in the Aqua Hotel Art Fair next week in Miami. The gallery will be featuring new work by Kimberly Brooks, Jeana Sohn, Kyle Field, Claire Oswalt, Sasha Bezzubov + Jessica Sucher and Melissa Manfull. Fair dates: December 5, 12-4PM, December 6/7/8, 11am-8pm, December 9, 12pm-5pm.
