Female Readymade Pt. I & II
(Human capital, burning car, barricade, Hydrofeminism, Opel Tometi’s hands, dancing, steering wheel, chain, Intestines, tape, rearview mirror) & Pt. II (Intestines, Belt, Tape, Rope, Elephant and hole, Voting booth fabric and sign, Licence plate)
Melissa Gordon
(2020)
Melissa Gordon is an artist working primarily in painting and printmaking. As the two works that she has produced for this exhibition demonstrate, painting, screen printing, and found objects are often incorporated in a single work. Gordon’s oeuvre is distinguished by an ongoing interrogation of artistic authorship, originality and an intentionally blurring of boundaries between artistic disciplines. While her paintings feature references to twentieth century painting and visual culture she has cultivated an aesthetic vocabulary that is entirely her own. An enduring interest in gestural painting and how this can be interpreted distinguishes her work, which is fundamentally informed by her engagement with feminist writing and publishing. The two paintings that Gordon has produced for Heavy Metal Parking Lot were produced in recent months and feature the distinctive screen of chain mail fencing that is synonymous with the recent series she has been developing. Several of the details included in the painting refer to some of the particularly prominent images / events of the tumultuous year that has been 2020, arising out of her interest in the behaviour of water as affective to gesture.