Melanie Goemans
Like Strings of Broken Lyres

Melanie Goemans grew up in the Lincolnshire fens, spending time in Italy in between studying Florentine Renaissance Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London (BA Hons. and MA) followed by MA Fine Art (Painting) at Cheltenham & Gloucester College of H.E. After a series of teaching posts and artist residencies, she relocated from London to Cambridgeshire and now works from her studio in Ely. Melanie has exhibited widely in solo and group shows across the UK including at the Jerwood Space, London; Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London; Florence Trust, London; Eastwood Fine Art, Hampshire; Irving Contemporary, Oxford; Cornwall Contemporary, Penzance. Her work is held in corporate and private collections worldwide; most recently Melanie was commissioned by The Dorchester, London, as one of six British artists selected to create a painting for their new Artists’ Bar. Her work has also been selected for significant juried exhibitions including the John Moores Painting Prize, ING Discerning Eye, and the National Open Art Exhibition.

ARTIST STATEMENT: “Walking my dogs in the early morning I notice the small seasonal shifts. I think about the quiet beauty in the everyday, particularly in the natural commonplace things that are rarely celebrated. My paintings are inspired by what I see around me: the form of a tree; the long lines of twining stems; the intricate lines of birds in flight. Often I am reminded of a poem or a piece of music and revisit an idea resonating there. In Hardy’s ‘The Darkling Thrush’ I found my exhibition title and verses of the poem are written under the gesso in ‘Of joy illimited’. Other references in this exhibition include Yeats’ ‘He wishes for the cloths of Heaven’, de la Mare’s ‘Silver’, Hahn’s ‘Exquisite Hour’, Schumann’s ‘Kinderszenen’.

Working from projections of photographs I’ve taken, I trace the lines loosely with a fine square ended brush, and the marks build up the complicated patterns of the whole. Using traditional materials - oil, gold leaf, charcoal, gesso - my work draws attention to these fleeting moments and underscores their value.” M.G. 2023