We are delighted to be showing a collection of beautiful, sensitively observed paintings by artist Melanie Goemans at Irving Contemporary this autumn in Melanie’s solo show, wander | wonder. The paintings on display in the exhibition are mostly very recent works painted this year, further explorations of Melanie’s interest in the natural world and the wonder to be found in the places we walk through and past daily.

Often the same tree or view appears in several paintings, for example, as Melanie explores one particular hawthorn tree from different angles, so the hawthorn which appears in Study of a Tree IV and Study of a Tree V is the same tree which appeared in the wonderful triptych painting which was selected for the John Moores Painting Prize exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool earlier this year. And dog roses and swifts appear in a number of the paintings shown here at Irving Contemporary, as do rooks. There is a strong graphic quality to many of Melanie’s works, which while exquisitely descriptive sometime also contain passages in which the calligraphic lines become almost abstract in the complex interlocking patterns they create, for example in the lower right corner of Melanie’s stunning painting Dog Rose and Swifts. The colour palette is pared down to just a few colours: white with olive green and rose madder, or lamp black, with details picked out in different gold leafs. There is a sparseness and an elegance to these paintings, in which large areas of pale ground balance the detailed branches, flowers, and leaves, and in some works the positioning of silhouetted birds right at the outer edges of the works hints at the space beyond the image, pushing outwards beyond the confines of the painted surface.

In the recent Fenland paintings of the River Great Ouse, there is a new fluidity which absolutely suits these watery images of a landscape dominated by its waterways, and again the calligraphic rendering of reflections of trees in the river borders on the abstract, or at least there is a loosening of the relationship between the marks and what they might appear to describe, in passages of Fenland II, for example.

This is a small and carefully curated collection of beautiful new works by a visual artist who has achieved recognition this year in her selection for the juried exhibitions of the ING Discerning Eye and John Moores Painting Prize, and I’m thrilled to show this group of works in the intimate space of Irving Contemporary’s gallery.

Artist statement

‘In the early morning I walk between the railway line and the river. Small seasonal shifts, incidental things we might usually rush past, become more noticeable walking the same paths like a ritual. I look at what is permanent and fixed, and what is transient and temporary, and conclude that everything is changing, even in this moment. What I photograph and paint is not there now, and the painting becomes like a ghost, a trace of a memory of something that inevitably will never be exactly the same again.

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 and composition, my work gives these fleeting moments status and draws attention to their value.’ - Melanie Goemans, 2021

Biography

Melanie grew up in the Lincolnshire fens, spending time in Italy before studying Florentine Renaissance Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London (BA and MA) followed by Fine Art, Painting at the School of Art, University of Gloucestershire (MA). After a series of residencies and teaching posts, 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 Florence Trust, London; Jerwood Space, London; Bridgeman Gallery, London; Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London; The Stratford Gallery, Stratford upon Avon; Josie Eastwood Fine Art, Winchester; Cornwall Contemporary, Penzance. Her work is held in corporate and private collections around the world, and has been selected for juried exhibitions including, most recently, the ING Discerning Eye (2020); and the John Moores Painting Prize (2020).