contact melissa:
melissacookeart@gmail.com

All images and materials are licensed under a Creative Commons License

"Masked" Artist Statement
Masks give permission to assume a different identity, allowing one to push the boundaries of their personality, eliminating limitations, repression, and social restraint.

I acknowledge and embrace the absurdity of my artistic ritual in these drawings.  For each piece, I put on a children’s mask and attempt to become the animal.  I take Myspace style glamour shots of myself, naked except for the mask, alone in my room. By wearing masks, I become a character, creating a superficial persona.  As I spend time analyzing, drawing, and observing this character, role-playing and fantasy can transform into reality and the animalistic persona can become part of my identity.

Through posing, nudity and stylization, I play with models of beauty, femininity, elegance and tropes of portraiture and fashion photography.  The intensity of my gaze paired with the monumental size of these drawings confronts the viewer and challenges their observations. I ascribe and indulge in the stereotype of the artist as spectacle, oddity and celebrity.  In essence, I am selling myself, and seducing the viewer with my character and my sexuality.

I am interested in the process of drawing and the dedication and seriousness that is implied in realism and monumentality.  In spite of what many deem as the “Post-Skill Era”, a time where technique and craft are a detriment rather than a benefit, I strive to challenge myself with new visual problems in order to hone my drawing ability.  I create my work by applying thin layers of loose powdered graphite with a dry brush to paper. Illusion dissolves into brushwork and the honesty of the material. Drawing also allows for isolation of the figure, making it become more iconic.  The blank background emphasizes the character and allows the viewer to imagine the setting.