Melanie Goemans

Melanie Goemans  Melanie’s work is a response to her environment, the places in and around which she lives the everyday; the new that has become the familiar, resonating the thoughts and experiences lived through there. She is interested in the overlooked, incidental forms in nature – how painting / printmaking can draw attention to things with no conventional value and mark them as important through the use of traditional materials, such as oil paint, gesso, gold leaf, etching. ‘I like looking at complicated shapes and drawing them with a very fine brush. The act of painting like this feels almost like stitching or weaving, as slowly with each brush mark the work comes together. I used to think art had to be complex to be good, but over time I have realised that keeping things simple or paring them down can make a bigger statement.’

Melanie Goemans grew up in the Lincolnshire fens, spending time in Italy before studying Florentine Renaissance Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art (BA and MA) followed by Fine Art, Painting at Cheltenham School of Art (MA). After a series of residencies and teaching posts, she relocated from London to Cambridgeshire and now works from her studio in central Ely. Over her career, Melanie has exhibited in group and solo shows across the UK including the Florence Trust, London; Jerwood Space, London; Bridgeman Gallery, London and Cornwall Contemporary, Penzance.
Her work is held in corporate and private collections in the UK and overseas and has been selected for the National Open Art Competition, the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition and Stage 2 of the John Moores Painting Prize (2020).