Melanie Berman

Melanie Berman (b. Surrey, UK) explores abstraction within painting, drawing on symbols from dreams and ideas of a “paradisiacal time”, blending the essences of music, poetry, mythology, and ancient traditions into one composition. Exploring the idea of a lost “One Language” once shared by all creatures and humankind, and rooted in the ‘collective unconscious’, Berman aims to convey archetypes and themes of interconnectedness through her abstract forms and marks. Her unique paintings fold around every visible surface, hinging to the architecture and spatial extensions. Multiple layers of gesso, porcelain plaster, acrylic, oil, and wax are  added to the surface, and subsequently buffed away, excavating Berman’s inner voice and revealing the physical workings of the piece. Guided by her chromesthesia, Berman has, since childhood, accessed a unique visual language of shapes, colours, and forms, providing her with an endless reservoir of imagery for self-actualisation. The interplay of bold, opaque hues and delicate forms in her paintings express a sense of balance between the constant search for truth and the fragile essence of existence, while the symbols and shapes produced create a narrative, a kind of visual poetry, within the work.

Melanie Berman’s paintings have been exhibited widely throughout the UK, including at the Royal Scottish Academy, the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, and was invited to exhibit at The Discerning Eye 2023. Recently, Berman was awarded the Hugo Barclay: Judge’s Choice Award in the Jackson’s Art Prize 2024, and has undertaken a large commission for SMC Design, London.