Melissa Smith

The technically gifted Melissa Smith’s edgy works always seem to be in medias res, yet they are so composed that the viewer feels as if they are waiting for the real action to start. This expectant, youthful verve carries through nearly all her work but it is the poise and calm at the center of the storm, which holds one pondering the big “what?” There is a philosophy at work, full of the minutia leading to some event or non-event. Pure voyeurism, this is decadent work that has its own tremulous line. Unlike most figurative artists in Portland, Smith refuses to overdescibe and instead gives us the very point where mystery seems inescapable yet palpable.