Jul 28th, 2021 • 5 minute read
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Curations with Mel Reese: Heat
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Hello again! I don’t know about you, but this oppressive heat wave has me feeling the need to slow down and camp out in front of the air conditioner. And while I’m there, one of my favorite pastimes is to soak up as much amazing art as possible. So, I want to share with you what I’ve found.
It seems like I am not the only one feelin’ the heat these days. As I scroll through the newly uploaded artworks, many Art in Res artists appear to be just as inspired by the summer and it’s all encompassing heat. Still-lifes remind us of summer scenes at home, hot colors embrace the steamy environment, and portraits embody our overwhelming desire to cool off.
This week I, artist and curator Mel Reese, am bringing together a collection of Art in Res pieces that really turn up the heat. Scroll through the post to see my placement of each piece, as well as how the selected works come together in a thoughtful, coalescent collection.
Let’s turn the air conditioner up to max as we scroll through this heated curation together –– happy browsing!
Summer in the City
Summer Sunset Over the Conference Room by Jennifer Small is the perfect embodiment of the summer experience for New Yorker’s –– the battle between the office and the beach escape. Small’s use of vibrant, hot colors emphasizes everyone’s experience of the summer sun’s ability to shape our relationship with our surrounding landscape, whether that be while braving the concrete jungle or escaping to the boundless ocean. The heat surrounds us and we are more aware than ever of the harsh visual and physical contrast between the sun and shade.
Jennifer Small tells us more about this piece: “My work is inspired by my observations of my everyday environment. Each part of this painting originates from photos I took while walking on the beach and in a corporate conference room in Chicago.”
Shade Saviors
In the dead of the summer heat, the natural world has grown beyond the delicate, colorful bounty of spring to bring us the restorative, cleansing, lushness of green. Charles Basman’s Golden Light at the Vale of Cashmere reminds us to take a deep breath of that fresh summer air. Like the trees and bushes themselves, we frolic in the blazing sun while taking solace in the cooling shade and fresh breeze.
Cooling Breeze
We ride that breeze in Ella Barnes’ Dance. Dancing around us, embracing us, the breeze comes to us as a welcomed friend. In contrast to the bright, intensity of the heat, the coolness of the blue reminds us how much a beautiful light breeze can lift us away into serenity.
Ella tells us more about what a cyanotype is, “Cyanotype is a photographic printing process invented in 1842 that produces a cyan blue print when exposed to UV light. I employ this method in the traditional way using sunlight to print on textile and paper. Each photogram is produced under unique weather and chemical conditions that ultimately guide the resulting composition.”
Too Hot for Clothes
Sometimes, it’s just too hot for clothes. Caroline Burdett’s limited edition print of Quarantine no.29 reminds us that sometimes a cool breeze or air conditioning just isn’t enough. Even just the thought of having to put on clothes makes us hot. Sometimes, crawling around in the nude is all we can manage and that’s ok.
A note from Caroline about what a Limited Edition Print is, “A signed, limited edition print is a high-quality reproduction of an original work of art that is printed in a limited number series or “run”––in this case, a run of 50. “Limited”, in this case, refers to a run of a capped number of prints at a specific size that will never be printed again. For you, the collector, this means this print will, at minimum, retain its cost value, but similar to an original painting, also has the ability to appreciate over time!”
Summer Life
The blazing sun is oppressive, yet the arid landscape persits with life. I’ve created a diptych from two of Camille Warmington’s La Jolla Groundscape Series which are perfect examples of how resilient and persistent nature can be––even when faced with some of the harshest conditions. Stunning pops of vibrant pinks in contrast with the grays and browns of the cracking ground are beautiful visual reminders of the complex relationship between light as a supplier of life and the heat that can take it away.
Burning Heat
The hotness associated with the color red is a complex one. Juan Hinojosa’s Red Wall is the visual representation of that complexity. Burning heat of shimmering beauty. American symbols of patriotic loyalty loom large. Up, up, up we go to explode in one loud reverberating boom of fantastic, celebratory fireworks.
Cooling Tactics
At this point we’ve tried relishing in the heat of the day with attempts at cooling ourselves off by shedding our clothes or welcoming the summer breeze. But when all else fails, sometimes the best course of action is to enjoy a nice, refreshing drink––that may or may not be alcoholic. In Abbi Kenny’s Great White Wine we are immediately transported to those summer days when we are enjoying a glass of cooled white wine at that picnic with friends and family; welcoming the cool condensation beads dripping down the glass and onto our hand.
Melting Heat
But sometimes the heat is just so overwhelming that nothing can cool us down. We are so hot that it feels like we might just melt into a puddle of our previous existence. Gregory Malphurs’ Bored of Directors 4 is the visual epitome of that feeling. So hot that you begin to stick your tongue out thinking panting like a dog might help. Are my eyes still above my nose or is my face melting?
Bringing it Together
Color and storytelling are two major themes in this collection. This group of Art inRes paintings shows us how the temperature of a color plays a big role in how we understand the environment within a painting. Are the pinks and reds there to heat things up? The blues to cool us down? How does each color combination make us feel? Perhaps the red agitates us, making us actually heat up. Maybe the blue soothes us, wraps us in a calming coolness. We often experience physical reactions to colors and in this brutal heat, we can see why!
Curated by Mel ReeseVirtual installations courtesy of ArtPlacer