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Darlene Mellein
| 1978 | MA | University of California, Los Angeles | | 1976 | BA | University of California, Los Angeles |
When I paint I transform the real into symbol, both archetypal and personal. My figures are non-specific, idiosyncratic and simple, suggesting everyman, sometimes hinting at the mystical. I flirt with the dark side and have a fleeting affection for it. Essential symbols occur and repeat, coming like the doodlings of a private and primal dream. Both concrete and abstract, they have become my vocabulary, allowing me to tell my stories. There is a narrative quality to my work.
There is an Urban/Primitive theme underlying most of my work. My paintings are my voice to reflect the culture of primitive man as well as the alienation often experienced in modern society. Humor and irony, a sense of ritual and a celebration of the anima infuse my view of life and inform my art.
Darlene Mellein is a native California painter living in the San Fernando Valley. An intuitive artist, she paints in various media, and often includes elements of collage in her work. She approaches a blank canvas with an abandon and boldness that convey humor, freedom and imagination. Her graduate work in Literature at UCLA focused on the existential aspect of Hispanic, African American and women's writing and its representation of the effectively disenfranchised. Today, she traces the roots of her paintings to that earlier work, her inspiration coming from the underlying stories of various cultures, their triumphs as well as alienation, along with their colors and symbols. Darlene was a founding member of the Abbot Kinney Art Gallery in Venice, CA, and is currently actively involved with The Collage Association of America, Southern California Women's Caucus for Art, and Women Painters West (serving as 2nd Vice President and Program Chair).
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