Robert Melee

2004, Inanimate Electo Substitution, beer bottle caps, plaster, wood, enamel, 48 x 40”

2001, Semi-Articulated Chic Substitution, beer bottle caps, plaster, wood, enamel, 48 x 48”

2001, Untitled Curtain I, plaster, flour, water, bone emulsion, and glue on cotton, 116 x 30”

Two characteristics appear to remain significant throughout Melee's varied body of work.  One is his sense of camp, which is evident in his choices of color scheme and subject matter.  The other is his determination to elevate objects seen as common or low to the higher plane of fine art.

For the piece Semi-Articulated Chic Substitution, Melee collected and arranged a number of bottle caps on a canvas, in effect producing geometrically abstract mixed media painting.  The seemingly throwaway origins of the medium are forgotten when one views the work.

In the work Untitled Curtain I, a daily household object is preserved in plastic emulsion and plaster, then painted in bright stripes.  Melee explores new dimensions and formats for creating experiments with color and form, in a manner that is not dissimilar to the works by Color Field artists such as Mark Rothko.