작품 상세

Melissa Bonin (American/Louisiana, b. 1960), "Watteau Series #6", 2002, oil on canvas, signed lower right, signed and dated en verso, 20 in. x 16 in., framed. Note: Melissa Bonin has been painting her dream-like landscapes of Louisiana since she began taking art classes at the age of fifteen at the University of Southwestern Louisiana on the advice of renowned artist, Elemore Morgan, Jr. who saw her as his protégé. A native of New Iberia, Bonin often speaks fondly of her beloved Bayou Teche. “When I go out on the water, something happens to me. I feel an electricity, an energy.” The painting on offer here is a masterful manifestation of the spiritual connection she feels with her southern Louisiana surroundings. “Landscapes permit me to sit on the edge of abstraction and reality. You can manipulate colors in a way that produces a feeling of the landscape without copying everything realistically.” Ref.: Kemp, John R. Expressions of Place: the Contemporary Louisiana Landscape. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2016, p. 37