20/20 Vision, Second Edition

The Art of Contemporary University Printmaking

Melissa Cook

My work is an exploration of sexuality. I am interested in sex as a metaphor for communication. My work is a combination of thoughts and ideas about sexuality based on my observations of our culture including larger ideas about sexuality as portrayed in contemporary media, as well as more specific personal interactions.

Sexuality and gender exist on intersecting continuums, and it is through painting that I consider the rigid system of categorization imposed onto a fluid sexual structure. My process is important for creating these intersections of sexuality. The primal quality of the materials, its fluidity and juiciness, allows the viewer to access a subject that references bodily fluids and flesh. The sensuality of color acts as a catalyst for the movement, harmony, and conflict within my work.

Through abstraction I invent and allude to the figure and exploit multiple sexual identities within an individual. Layering imagery allows the viewer to access different states of these identities. As I progress deeper into the binary categorizations of sexuality the depictions of the subtleties of the sexual experience becomes more and more elusive. The desire for resolution forces an investigation that cannot conclude.