Melissa COOTE
Introduction
Melissa Coote was born in 1966 in Sydney. She has been living and working between Paris and Sydney since 1989.
In her series such as Hands, Backs or Kryptos, Melissa Coote questions the body, similarly to studies, while exploring transition and transformation. There are multiple subjects in her artworks, but all are related to the body, both human's and animal's : one can find in her works a study of a hand, an animal's skull, bones, a statue's eye, a vagina...
Her artworks results of a four step creation process: the artist starts with researching and photographing the subject. Then she applies thick layers of photographic pigments and mastic gum resin in order to create a basis on paper. The third step consists in projecting its photographic image on the canvas on which it will be drawn. It is therefore pushed to its true representation. In the final step, the artist works on the paper with sand laying and she creates a veil with the help of resin, gum and pigments pulverization. To which point the artwork evolves, making way for a mysterious presence, to a shape that is almost mutant.
Melissa Coote physically works the subject on paper as if it was the object itself. An iconic shape inviting to meditation emerges from it.
Biography
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2014
- Fox Jensen Gallery, Auckland, Australia
- Jensen Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2012
- Fox Jensen Gallery, Auckland, Australia
- 2006
Mori Gallery Eyes, Sydney, Australia
2005
- Under, Earl McGrath Gallery, New York, USA
2004
- Kryptos, Mori Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2002
- Faultline, Mori Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2001
- Hands, Mori Gallery, Sydney, Australia
1998
- Skulls II, Mori Gallery, Sydney, Australia
1997
- Breathing Bones, Ireland Model Arts Center, Sligo, Ireland
- Breathing Bones, Ireland Limerick City Gallery, Ireland
- Limerick City Gallery, Limerick, Ireland
1996
- Skulls I, Mori Gallery, Sydney, Australia
1995
- Têtes, Galerie Perquis, Paris, France
1991
- La muse d'Embeiria, Galerie Cannibal Peirce, Saint-Denis, France
1990
- Self Portraits, New York Studio School Gallery, New York, USA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018
- Tête à tête, Melissa Coote / Karen Farkas, galerie baudoin lebon, Paris
2017
- Paris Photo, with baudoin lebon, Paris, France
- Earl McGrath Collection, New York, USA
- Earl McGrath Foundation, Los Angeles, USA
2016
- Fox Jensen Gallery, Auckland, Australia
- Jensen Gallery, Sydney, Australia
- Art For Refugees, Black Lotus Studios, Sydney, Australia
2014
- Fox Jensen Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2013
- The Truth that Lies Tell, Fox Jensen Gallery, Auckland, Australia
2011
- The Estrangement of Judgement, Jensen Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2007
- With Susan Norrie and Joan Grounds, baudoin lebon, Paris, France
2006
- Spring Show Sydney, Mori Gallery, Sydney, Australia
- Earl McGrath Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2005
- Artists Projects, Sydney, Australia
- Bleak Epiphanies, Sir Herman Black Gallery, Sydney, Australia
- Fundraiser, Mori Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2004
- baudoin lebon, Paris, France
- McGrath Gallery, New York, USA
2003
- Barking Up the Wrong Tree, Mori Gallery, Sydney, Australia
- Arabesque, Mori Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2001
- Dublin, Ireland
- Muses, Mori Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2000
- Ateliers au Féminin, Fondation Coprim, Paris, France
1999
- Private Showing, Dublin, Ireland
- Group exhibition for tenth anniversary of gal. with Emmanuelle Renard et Gustave de Stalle, Galerie sur Cour, Paris, France
1998
- EV?A 98, Limerick Exhibition of Visual Art 9, Irish Biennale, Limerick, Ireland
1997
- Group exhibition with French artist, Gallery Douyon, Miami, USA
1996
- Salon de Montrouge, with Galerie Paris sur Cour, Montrouge, France
1995
- Contemporaines 95, Quai Branly, Paris, France
1994
- Découvertes et Créatures, Drouot-Montaigne, Paris, France
- Group exhibition with Marion Borgelt, Limerick City Gallery, Limerick, Ireland
1993
- Boyle Arts Festival, Resonance through Time and Space, Ireland
- Contemporaines, Grand Palais, Paris, France
- Jeune Peinture ? Collection for AIDS, Grand Palais, Paris, France
1992
- Jeune Peinture 92, Grand Palais, Paris, France
- Jeune Peinture 20/20, exposition itinérante, Poland, Czech Republic, Africa
1991
- Pensée de l'art, Galerie Cannibal Peirce, Saint-Denis, France
1990
- A Portfolio of Australian Women Artists, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, Australia
1985
- Young Artists, Australien Centre of Photography, Sydney, Australia
AWARDS
2017
- Ravenswood Women?s Art Prize
2015
- Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize
2003
- Mosman Art Prize, Sydney, Australia
1993
- Sulman Prize Selection, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, Australia
