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Melanie Parke, "The Dame and the Window," 2025, oil on canvas, 44 x 38 inches, $7,200
“Inspired by the way a dune glows in evening, a conversation between flowers small and large, the ceramics of Ariela Nome Kuh, and the paintings of Dame Elisabeth Blackadder (1931-2021)”
Melanie Parke, "Cottage Peach," 2025, oil on canvas, 36 x 48 inches - SOLD
“The marsh I visit almost daily is out my window in my mind…a postcard by Morandi…the things we collect on a table.”
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Melanie Parke, "Nu Bleu Summer of '52," 2025, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches, $7,200
“Inspired by the shifting shapes of the marsh, the new greens of early summer, Ariela Nome Kuh’s ceramic “Vessel 502”, the air, the light, and the year 1952 when Matisse was ill in bed, still working…his imagination so alive, he made the Blue Nude cut outs.”
Melanie Parke, "Delft Green," 2025, oil on canvas, 35 x 40 inches, $6,200
“Inspired by the dune path in evening, my husband’s mother’s delft tiles, and flowers from the garden.”
Melanie Parke, "Jimson and Yarrow," 2025, oil on canvas, 38 x 44 inches, $7,200
"Inspired by 7 summers on an island picking daisies, pottery made from island clay, Georgia O'Keeffe and her love of looking closely at flowers and her painting 'Jimson Weed/Flowers no. 1' - 1932"
Melanie Parke at Arden Gallery Ltd.
ARTIST STATEMENT
"I reconstruct interiors and garden motifs through ideology and memory. Collecting imagery representative of care, tenderness, nostalgia, I am interested in a practice of attentive observation. An affection for slowness.
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Windows and doors give structure to the ephemeral. At the edge of these portals are sometimes offerings, material objects that appear close at hand, seen and touched with the imagination. Tracing the gestures made by other artists in a familiar postcard, ceramic or sculpture, these are a nod to the conversations that go on between artists. What was once ephemeral has solidity in our remembering. We keep talking to artist friends and mentors through all the years of literature and art history.
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Flowers, which embody brevity, generosity, sentiment, center most of my work. The presence of birds suggests curiosity and wonder, sometimes allegories of fragility, sometimes euphoria. I’m looking for visual lushness. Contemplation. Sensations of consolation, longing and desire." - Melanie Parke, 2025