Today we’d like to introduce you to Melodie Provenzano.

Melodie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I grew up in Kinderhook, NY, with very supportive parents and terrific art teachers, who nurtured my desire to study art in college. I spent my sophomore year at Parsons in Paris and returned to the US to earn my BFA at Parsons School of Design in NYC. My senior year, I started a part time job painting costumes for the Phantom of the Opera. The brilliant designer Bryan Kollman, for whom I was working, also worked doing window display at Saks Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan. He recognized my painting skills and had me hired at Saks, where I regularly freelanced every week for about ten years. My time at Saks was an invaluable visual boot camp. I learned how to work in a team, cut and roll paint, gold leaf, faux finish, install props, paint murals, meet strict deadlines and whatever else was needed. Eventually my reputation as a painter garnered me jobs from other high end fashion companies, such as Hermes, Donna Karan Collection and Louis Vuitton, to name a few. When I would come home from working at night and on my days off, I would make paintings of my own creation with romantic aspirations to show in a gallery and be an art star, like Basquiat, without the untimely death of course. I would also write and record songs on my four track under the pseudonym Connie Acher. Several albums were released on the Albany, NY underground label Flipped Out Records. In 2004, Goya Contemporary gave me a solo paintings and drawings show in Baltimore, Maryland and made prints with me. It was a dream come true. Goya Contemporary also exhibited my work at prestigious art fairs in NYC, FL and CA. Soon after I met Michael Lyons-Wier at a Guggenheim dance party, and he exhibited my still life paintings and drawings at his ground floor Chelsea gallery. It was very exciting. Beth DeWoody and her friends bought pieces, getting my foot in the door of some notable collections. Solo shows in Chicago with Carrie Secrist Gallery and Nashville followed, and many group shows, including “Playing Around” at the Brattleboro Museum and “Clear Vision” at the Museum of Contemporary Arts Long Island. Recently, I had a solo booth at the 2024 SPRING/BREAK Art Show in Los Angeles. In 2020, I moved with my family to the countryside outside of Nashville in Tennessee, where I am currently working full time in my studio, focusing on making paintings for the art market, commissions for private collectors and “Seeing Oneself in Others,” a series of paintings depicting other artists’ sculptures that I envision as a traveling museum show. The first stop for the Seeing Oneself in Others Museum Tour is The Tennessee Valley Museum of Art in Tuscumbia, Alabama in 2025! This upcoming solo museum show is another dream come true!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Even freshly paved roads develop potholes. That is to say, there have been lots of struggles, mostly internal. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder was incredibly challenging for me as a child. I had to painstakingly train myself to let go of numerous annoying and problematic compulsions. In my 20s and 30s, drinking alcohol was a major struggle in my life, resulting in going to work hung over, feeling awful, being emotionally unstable and feeling extremely insecure. When I finally gave up drinking alcohol for good in January of 2010, I listened to A LOT of Dharma Talks in the Thai Forest tradition of the Buddhist teacher Ajahn Chah, from which I gained insight and tools for dealing with life. One of the 8 precepts of Buddhism is NO intoxicants, so I found great support from the monks who strictly adhere to the first 8 precepts plus many more rules. In 2019, despite my best efforts of filling my brain with invaluable Buddhist philosophy and being completely sober, I ended up in the ER from a panic attack, where I thought I was dying. Fortunately, I’m still here! The doctor prescribed a small dose of medication which has helped tremendously. The biggest career struggle that I faced was trying to get 51 pieces of my artwork returned to me from the very first art dealer, who found me at my Parsons Senior Art Exhibition. I consigned paintings and drawings, large and small to this dealer for many years upon graduating from college. As I got older, it was more and more clear to me that the business relationship that we had was not working, and I asked for my unsold artwork back to no avail. After wasting so much time, money and mental energy, I finally just laid the struggle down and walked away from the lawsuit that was never resolved. It’s ancient history now, but I still wonder what that dealer has done with all of those artworks that I consigned to her and never saw again. There’s a terrific documentary about Drew Struzan, an amazing illustrator, who lost around 100 artworks to someone. In the end he gets all of the artwork returned to him. I sometimes imagine that all of those paintings and drawings that I made in my 20s will miraculously, by the forces of good, find their way back to me somehow.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am intrigued by objects and have a large collection of figurines, glassware, gift bows, and knickknacks. I became known for arranging these items and creating still life compositions that tell an emotional story, exploring themes of love, fear, power, vulnerability, contemplation and peace. Usually the narrative has something to do with my life personally. I meticulously render these still lives from direct observation, consistently refining until I feel completely satisfied and excited by the illusion of the objects drawn on paper or painted on canvas. Recently, I started a side project called White Glove Soap, where I hand cut printed images of the painted objects and adhere them to handmade natural soap. Then I cover the printed cutout images with a thin layer of beeswax to protect the artwork when the soap is in use. The soaps are fully functional art, make wonderful gifts, smell heavenly and can be purchased on my website for as little as 10 dollars. My friend, artist Barry Kostrinsky said, “Your soaps are the best value in the art world.” One of my favorite soaps is “Norma’s Chic,” a ceramic tchotchke from a best friend’s grandmother, that I have painted multiple times, because the little baby chicken resonates with qualities of harmlessness, innocence and curiosity. In 2018, I shifted my attention from solely painting still lives of my collection to include other artists’ sculptures. I’m passionate about my ongoing series entitled “Seeing Oneself in Others” that I first exhibited at Nancy Margolis Gallery in 2020, because the overall message is peace, compassion and group harmony. The sculptors come from different cultural backgrounds and use different materials to create their work. For example, to name a couple of the artists, Arthur Simms is originally from Jamaica and his sculpture “Red Light” was created with toy cars, metal, plastic, wire, stone and wood, while the artist Jae Yong Kim is originally from Korea, and his donut sculpture is ceramic. Despite their inherent differences the paintings of their sculptures are made by the same hand and make sense together, partially because an intense attention to detail and hyper realism are present in both. The NYC exhibition also included the sculptures that each artist let me borrow and paint from direct observation in my studio. It was an amazing show! My friend, artist Dee Shapiro said at the opening that the show deserved to be written about in the New York Times. The gallery director Lilian Day Thorpe texted me the morning of the opening that Leonardo DiCaprio had strolled into the ground floor space on W25th Street in NYC and was the first to take it in. Unfortunately, the onset of COVID 19 happened and the show closed very soon after it began.
When the pandemic subsided and people started gathering together again, I exhibited an expanded version of “Seeing Oneself in Others” at The University School of Nashville. Alongside the first body of paintings, I added two new paintings and several drawings depicting student sculptures. The show promotes the multiplicity of creative expression and diversity of people. It was great to see the paintings of professional artists sculptures alongside those of students, broadening the identities included. As far as I know, I’m the only artist making hyper-real paintings of other artists’ sculptures, so I guess that sets me apart. Ironically, “being set apart” is the opposite of my goal. I’m aiming for being among many communities, learning about individuals and how we relate as integral parts of humanity. I’m shedding a light on our interconnection. We all fit in. We are all living this inexplicable mysterious life together.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Perseverance.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://melodieprovenzano.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melodieprov/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Melodie-Provenzano-262287330509/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melodie-provenzano-a0345b34/
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/melodieprov
• Other: https://whiteglovesoap.bigcartel.com/products

Image Credits
Samuel Morgan Photography, SPRING/BREAK Art Show 2024