Melisa King
LandE scape
CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW art of painting and Japanese ink painting . So there may be traces of these two painting forms in my works . For example , I may be inspired from transferring intense emotions like 20th century European painting and admiring , contemplating nature like Japanese ink painting . For the purpose of broadening my perspective on European painting and Renaissance , I studied and lived in Florence . I was so captivated by walking on the same streets where heroes of Renaissance such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo walked once . I believe it is a chance to live and work on painting in Florence . Apart from that , I find Italy very crucial in the history of art . I have a personal interest in Italy and Italian language , in which gives me the urge to live there in the future . After my Florence experience , I came back to Istanbul and applied to Sabanci University Master ’ s degree in Visual Arts and Communication Design and accepted with scholarship . Coming back to Istanbul and entering a college where contemporary art is on the forefront introduced me to see the wide diversity of today ’ s art world , even though this diversity pushed me to embrace painting more . Apart from this , I can not consider myself as an artist who is very much influenced by her own cultural substratum , namely Turkish culture . But rather I see myself as an artist who is influenced very much by her “ enviromental ” substratum . I am influenced and inspired by my family life , my emotions , nature , landscapes , the sun and so on . In that sense I am more focused on my microcosmic life , rather than a macro one which includes country , history and culture .
Everyday elements are keeping my artwork alive and nurturing my self to produce more .
Over these years you have experimented with a wide variety of different techniques . The figurative language you convey in your pieces is the result of a constant evolution of your searching for new means to express the ideas you explore in your works : your inquiry into the expressive potential of colors combines together figurative as subtle abstract feature into a coherent balance . We we would suggest to our readers to visit http :// www . melisaking . com in order to get a synoptic view of your work : in the meanwhile , would you like to tell to our readers something about the evolution of your style ? In particular , would you shed light on your usual process and set up ?
I have always felt close to oil painting . The opportunities that oil painting offers are very crucial in my painting process . However I always have the urge to try different materials for the sake of experience . For example in some of my works I use sand in acryclic , different kind of inks such as Iranian calligraphy ink , watercolor pastels , dry pastels and colored pencils . I like to experience coloring capacities of different materials . In that sense I can say that color is and has always been my main stimulator . Color gives life and vitality and I am very excited about this endless spectrum .
I get inspired very easily from the visuals I see everyday if my mind is calm and focused . Whenever I get in touch with a such view , I take a photo of it and / or I let myself grasp the feeling of as much as I can to transfer it on the canvas . So , the image never comes alone , it brings a
29