Jeffrey Melo
Aug 11, 2022 - Feb 8, 2023
Jeffrey Melo, credits : Ida Kreutzer
This summer, Arsenal Contemporary Art Montreal is pleased to welcome Jeffrey Melo for a residency. The American artist will be working towards a new body of work for his upcoming solo exhibition scheduled for next winter at Blouin Division.
About
Jeffrey Melo captures the authenticity of his subjects through paintings, sculptures, and large-scale murals. Referring to familial and cultural histories as well as the diaspora to reconnect history to present day, he uses archival references and his own photographs to reinvent the multitude of ways in which we think about and experience time and memory. As a first-generation American whose parents immigrated from the Dominican Republic, he was always aware of his cultural identity and difference. However, not until attending University of the Arts did he start to recognize his perceived otherness amongst a mostly white contingent of peers. After a pause that will last until 2018, national tragedies borne from social injustice and racial inequality in America reignited Melo's need to create.
Jeffrey Melo was born in the Bronx, in New York. He graduated from the University of the Art in Philadelphia (2012) and Pratt Institute (2008) and currently lives in New York. His most recent exhibitions include several group shows and a solo show at the Black Wall Street Gallery (New York, NY) and a group show at the Plaxall Gallery (Long Island, NY).