Ambassade 22 2007

Melissa Meyer made this watercolor painting called Ambassade 22, and it’s all about the delightful messiness of process. The color palette, a cool combination of blues, reds, greens and yellows, feels like a jazzy improvisation. Looking closely, the paint is thin and transparent, like watercolor. It reveals every brushstroke and the paper underneath. See that area of dark blue on the lower left? It's not just a color, it's a record of the hand. It’s like the painting is breathing. Meyer’s paintings always remind me of other artists like Joan Mitchell, who are able to harness such energetic gesture in a way that is both playful and profound. Painting, after all, is an ongoing conversation, a back-and-forth between artists across time. Ambassade 22 invites us to embrace ambiguity, and see the world in multiple layers.