Melinda Hackett
BIO
I began my career as an artist by becoming an art history major in college. Fascinated with the history of art I looked at a lot of churches and spent hours in a lot of museums. I worked in art galleries, at magazines and finally had my own gallery in Manhattan’s east village in the late 80’s-early 90’s. Not satisfied with promoting everyone else’s work, I went back and got my MFA at Parsons/New School in 1996 and have since joined the ranks of New York City’s creative many with shows here and there and work in many private and a few public collections. I cannot think of a better place to live and make art as crowded and busy as it may be.
EDUCATION
MFA Parsons School of Design, New York, NY BA Hobart William Smith College, Geneva, NY
Artist statement
Hackett’s paintings are loosely based on the circle. In them circles are laid over and under each other to create the effect of slow, deliberate movement across the picture plane on one hand and pulsing, dynamic rhythm on the other. Abstract organisms rooted in the natural world float around in fictionalized spatial situations urging the eye to follow the trail caused by their movement. Unlike traditional landscape painting which muses on the external world, these paintings embark on a journey through an internal world very much choreographed by the artist. Part pattern, part tattoo, part tribal dance the paintings derive their vitality from a wide variety of sources including the Vienna Werkstatte, Aboriginal crop paintings, 20th century pattern design, the wild color world of Matisse and marine biology as seen in the work of the 19th century German biologist Ernst Haeckel. The forms conjure up the notions of cells and organisms while at the same time suggest the concept of microcosm vs. macrocosm: a single cell or an entire universe. Each painting contains its own family of form, and like the snowflake, no two will ever be precisely the same. Hackett works primarily in oil paint with an additional interest in watercolor, pencil and printmaking.
Exhibition Dates
SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2010 “The Paumanok Paintings” 4 North Main Street Gallery, Southampton, NY 2009 "New Work" Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, NY 2008 "Painting as Plain", Vanina Holasek Gallery, New York, NY 2006 "In the Eye", Holasek Weir Gallery, New York, NY 2005 "Paintings", Langham & Company, New York, NY 2005 "New Work", Branchville Gallery, Branchville, CT 2004 "In the Eye", McGrath Galleries, New York, NY 2004 "Watercolors", Gallery @ Sadelier, Danbury, CT 2003 "In Circles", Norwalk Community College Gallery, Norwalk, CT "In Circles", Art Ex Gallery, The Stamford Museum, Stamford, CT "New Work", Thirteen Gallery, Danbury, CT GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2009” “Holiday Selections” Elisa Tucci Contemporary, Riverdale, NY “New Acquisitions” Scott Richards Contemporary Art, San Francisco, CA 2007 "Pattern vs. Decoration" Hosfelt Gallery, New York, NY NEST Auction Emergency Arts, New York, NY 2006 Art (212) Contemporary Art Fair, Vanina Holasek Gallery, New York, NY "Groovy/Not Groovy, First Run Productions, New York, NY "Artists of the Hamptons" Leila Heller Gallery, New York NY " Beast and the Beauty", Holasek, Weir Gallery, New York, NY " Current Abstraction", Black Rock Art Center, Bridgeport, CT 2005 "Summer Selections", Pepper Gallery, Boston, MASS. 2004 "Prints and Paper" , Branchville Gallery, Ridgefield, CT. 2003 "10 at 13 - Works on Paper", Thirteen Gallery, Danbury, CT "La Superette", Deitch Projects, New York, NY "Mart", Beacon, NY 2002 "Autumn at the Station" Tonje Gallery, Brewster, NY "First Annual Lancaster Invitational", Lancaster, PA "In The Reef", North Salem Free Library, North Salem, NY "Snapshot", Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT 2001 "The Brewster Project", Brewster NY: Curator Christopher Ho "Summer Show", Tonje Gallery, Brewster, NY "Small Works", Thirteen Gallery, Danbury, CT 1999 Thirty Sixth Juried Exhibition, The Parish Art Museum, Southampton, NY 1997 "Generations", A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY 1996 MFA Show, 420 West Broadway, New York, NY 1995 "Pink", Parsons Gallery, Parsons School of Design, New York, NY "Ambrosia", Parsons Gallery, Parsons School of Design, New York, NY 1994 "National Midyear Exhibition", Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH "Thirty Fourth Juried Exhibition", The Parish Art Museum, Southampton, NY "MFA Show, Hunter College", New York, NY 1993 Elaine Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY "Five Painters", Patterson Museum, Patterson, NY 1992 "Women on the Verge", Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, NY 1990 "Melinda Hackett" Realart Gallery, New York, NY PRINTMAKING RESIDENCY 2008, 2009 Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 2006-2009 EMERGENCY ARTS, founding member and artist in residence, New York, NY
