CONTEMPORARY ART STOCKROOM Melinda Schawel

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While the World Looks Away

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Melinda Schawel's artistic vision manifests in abstract compositions that evoke a visual ecology, a symbolic realm where concept and construction converge harmoniously. Her mixed media works are characterized by experimental techniques, where traditional materials are manipulated in unconventional ways. Over her career papers have been collaged, woods sanded and ripped, ink washes applied, and surfaces are inscribed upon and waxed, resulting in a tactile engagement with texture and mark.

Utilizing a restrained palette of neutral tones punctuated by bold accents, Schawel's creations exude a primordial yet weightless quality. Her artistic process embraces both control and chaos, harnessing the element of surprise to shape organic forms that resonate with the viewer. Each piece reflects Schawel's profound reverence for materials and surfaces, as well as her relentless pursuit of the symbiotic relationship between ideas, technique, and media.

Schawel's contributions to the contemporary art scene resonate with collectors seeking works that transcend traditional boundaries, inviting them to immerse themselves in a world where the natural and the abstract converge in quiet harmony.

My art practice is a personal and emotional response to phenomena occurring in nature, as well as meditations on the nature of paper itself. Working with a thick 640gsm paper, I drill and tear into the medium with a scalpel and peel it back to create shapes and textures revealing different aspects of the paper’s persona. Drawing ink and fluid acrylics are painted and poured on sections of the torn and perforated paper, creating interplays between colour and form. A knowledge and love of materials and process, for me, is the key to achieving a sense of visual equilibrium. Human beings are inherently flawed and we seem to require multiple opportunities to prove ourselves. This is particularly relevant with regards to our catastrophic impact on the climate, which leaves us all to ponder how many chances we actually have left.
Melinda Schawel, Artist Statement

Schawel creates works of considerable lyricism, where despite the brutality of her making process, there prevails a mood of tranquillity tinged with mystery and wonderment. It is possible to see a metaphor in paper as a skin of life or the canary in the coalmine and on it we may notice a reflection on the challenges to the natural environment. Drawings such as ‘Bommie I’ may be interpreted as a meditation on the marine environment and on the process of its regeneration during difficult times.
Dr. Sasha Grishin 2017

Melinda Schawel's practice featured on Arts Hub 'So you want my arts job?'

Creative Road: Public Artists in Conversation // Melinda Schawel from Creative Road on Vimeo.

ARTIST PROFILE:
Melinda Schawel is an American/Australian artist living & working in Melbourne (Naarm), Australia. She received a BFA from the University of California Santa Barbara in 1993 and a Postgraduate Degree in printmaking from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 1995, and has explored a diverse range of media including metal, wood and most recently, clay. Paper continues to be her primary focus, however, and her unorthodox approach to this medium is both physical and intensely personal. Through the meticulous techniques of engraving and perforation, she pushes the boundaries of the medium, and in some instances completely transforms the surface, whilst retaining an illusion of effortlessness and fluidity.

She has exhibited widely in her adopted country of Australia – with over 20 solos under her belt – and internationally in Hong Kong, Zurich and Singapore. She has been a finalist in a multitude of art prizes including most recently, the Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize (2024), the Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing (2024, 2020, winner of People's Choice in 2018) and the WAMA Environmental Art Prize (2023). She has also been a finalist in the Whyalla Art Prize (2017), the Nillumbik Prize (2021, 2016, 2015, 2013) and the Fisher’s Ghost Art Award (2015, 2012) amongst others.

Schawel has completed numerous art residencies including La Fundacio Pilar i Joan Miro in Spain, Art Vault in country Victoria, Franz Masereel Centre in Belgium and Chiang Mai Art on Paper Workshop in Thailand. She was recently featured in Arts Hub, has been interviewed by the late ABC TV presenter Jill Singer as well as comedian/activist Mandy Nolan, and featured in various publications such as Artist Profile Magazine and the Canberra Times.

She has been commissioned for many residential and commercial projects here and abroad, including the Westin Hotel and the Park Hyatt in Melbourne and a Tokyo project with Mori Bldgs in 2023 as well as her first integrated public artwork for the City of Casey in 2020. Her work is held in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, Artbank, Crown Casino, Geelong Regional Gallery, the Royal Museum of Fine Art in Antwerp, Belgium and the Whitehorse Art Collection. She held a successful solo exhibition at Art Central Hong Kong in 2018.

SCHAWEL'S PUBLIC ART PROJECTS

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Shimmer 2024
ink and graphite on perforated paper
105cm x 75cm framed in American oak, size 120 x 90cm
$6,600 AUD

Flutter II 2024
ink and graphite on torn perforated paper
76cm x 56cm , framed in American oak
$3,800 AUD

Breathe 2024
ink and graphite on torn and perforated paper
152cm x 212cm , unframed
$19,800 AUD

Let the Light In 2023
perforated and burnt 640gsm paper
152cm x 106cm
$13,000 AUD

Blurred Lines I 2023
ink and graphite on perforated paper
105cm x 75cm , framed size 120 x 90cm
$6,600 AUD

Blurred Lines II 2023
ink and graphite on perforated paper
105cm x 75cm , framed size 120 x 90cm
$6,600 AUD

Untitled 2017
ink on torn and perforated paper
105cm x 105cm
$9,500 AUD

Night Swimming 2024
ink and graphite on torn and perforated paper
106cm x 106cm framed in American oak size 122 x 122cm
$9,500 AUD

Blue Pools 2024
ink and graphite perforated paper
106cm x 106cm framed in American oak size 122 x 122cm
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