Art Militant: An Interview w. Jeffrey Melo "A Painter's Life"

art currently launches a new column “Art Militant” led by cultural producer Murphy Phi covering the intersection of art and fashion, as it relates to current trends and art ecosystem that sustain creative production in our increasingly interdisciplinary cultural landscape.

If you flip the glossy, rectangular landscape pages of the 2024 New American Paintings Northeast Issue #170, you’ll eventually land on a set of images created by a young Bronx fellow – Jeffrey Melo – a rather direct yet soft spoken oil painter with a dream of soft living and easy life for all. In a burning world, which seems instinctual to his thoughts, the painter pairs his calm perfectly with a sharp uptown stare, topped with a subtle, “Everyone should honestly just chill out”. Something he takes pride in is being an artist that feels everything and is affected by less, understanding how to stay aware yet focused, informed but reserved – something most New Yorkers know well. Although, growing up in a neighborhood of heavy crime, poverty and uncertainty, yet super cultural, a young ambitious kid from the Bronx is always still a short train or bus ride away from the world’s most prestigious galleries and flagship entrances, an access that shaped his artistic career to come.

Melo, a now well traveled artist, still resides in NYC and owns the same perspective he once had as a young child on his parent’s stoop but the location of his lens has changed a bit. After years of study and practice, Melo has obtained a BFA in Illustration from the University Of The Arts in Philadelphia. He reflects on days in Philly, walking around as a “just a kid from New York in this place that’s nothing like home” (every New Yorker’s identity whenever they’re outside of what to them feels like the entire world within the boundaries of New York City) holding an early generation iPod, “bumpin’ mad Tupac and Tribe” on walks between his studio, a class or back to his dorm, altering the way we see things has always been a motivation for the anxious storyteller.

Now, the artist is currently exhibiting new works in group show “Carved In Cover, Bound By Love” an intentional curation that celebrates artistry and emotion, bound together by the universal force of love with Tanya Weddimere Gallery in Brooklyn, NY on view through April 25, 2025.

For the six years following his graduation in 2012, “Jae”, as his friends and 12,000+ Instagram followers recognize him as, found a love in martial arts and wellness, keeping the arts as a background meditation. Melo still practiced but not publicly until something happened in the world, but importantly, his internal world.

2018 proved to be a tumultuous year for many, and for Jae, a young college graduate from immigrant parents in the Dominican Republic, it marked the first time the sociopolitical climate deeply resonated with him on a personal level. Though he had encountered moments that tested his resolve—like facing racial prejudice as a Latino student in rural Pennsylvania—his college years had not fully prepared him for the heightened political tension of the time, which unsettled him deeply. So, like most natural artists when the environment around them becomes fiery, creative response is the only response, he reached into his bag of brushes and let his voice speak for what he was observing in the racial and social climate of our country.

Melo spent the new three years in a full steam state of creation. Any available second outside of daily life, work and catching up on sleep, he was in a small basement level Bronx studio building a strong, visually expressive body of work, mastering techniques learned in his days at UArts to land a solo exhibition in SoHo, which sold out before his anticipated opening reception. Since his first solo, he has gone on to exhibit works in 18 group exhibitions and 4 gallery/art fair showings creating a solid foundation for himself in the artworld. Through multiple high profile residencies, auction lots and foundation involvement, the artist has accumulated a respectable list of placements, collectors and supporters.

By allowing himself to stay vulnerable yet not shift on linear language and ideology, Melo is able to show evolution as an artist but very consistent in presentation. His oil portraiture work reflects the histories, sounds, art, culture, and people of his family’s homeland in the Dominican Republic. His wide arrangement of portraits celebrate, mourn, and bring light to the untold stories of characters of current times. He uses said portraits to illustrate a realness and often an undertone of suppression when observing one of his new series’ like “Borders” where he uses captured photography and remembered imagery from a trip south to help communicate a lifestyle one would witness closer to the Haitian-Dominican Republic border.

“Borders”, the last series he created at his former Bronx studio before relocating closer to his home in Lower East Side, Manhattan, Melo provides viewers a window into a world that could very well be your own, allowing you, the audience, to empathize with the story it tells. Melo’s aim in this novel of canvasses is to provide the audience with the tools to get curious, inquisitive, and accountable when considering very familiar stories through unfamiliar characters. While much of the series features the everyday life of people at the border but also shines light on a lot of the disproportionate treatment of certain peoples as it relates to classism, colorism and cultural suppression. It suggests an undertone of targeted acceptance and refusal while exposing the presence of service, labor and force in paintings such as “Migrante V”.

In the next few works of the series, titled respectively, “MIGRANTE VI and VII”, the artist furthers the conversation to explore the concluding imagery of forced migration and deportation in the regions of Monte Christi and Dajabon. The spectrum of cultural identities help illustrate through a tighter lens, immortalizing the existence of peers, passersby and community members who, in other instances, would not have the luxury of performing as muse for discussion in such a fine art setting. Melo pulls back the veil of what the media avoids when sharing stories of the two countries that make up Hispaniola when referenced in history and tourism, offering a closer look into family, street culture and market environments. The scenes further expose many of the comparative qualities between Haitians and Dominicans at a border in which they did not create.

Melo, who openly expresses that he sometimes wishes he could be apolitical as an artist and produce less charging more often than not, finds himself in a responsive outreach when creating lately. He considers the landscape of our world and has adopted the duty to rely on an institutional level skillset to combat misinformation and stories of cultural neglect.

In his newest collection, “Escondido”, Melo’s most experimental work to date, he leans into the same emotional triggers that started his current fine-art journey in 2018, but this time as a seasoned artist.. Seven years ago, he was searching for his voice in a world of doubt and hate, these days he’s loud and clear - ready as ever. While looking to cover up a work in progress, he finds himself in front of a masterpiece rooted in identity through self reflection.

“This concept derived from a serendipitous moment in the studio. I was working on a self-portrait (pictured above) that I wasn't satisfied with and was planning to cover it with primer to create a new painting. As I started covering it, I uncovered a part of myself, partially revealing my face. I loved the look—it focused on my eyes, nose, and a bit of my mouth, but not entirely. It was enough to see myself in a different light, completely changing my self-perception. So, the origin of this concept was an accident, an outcome of obscuring an original painting I didn’t like. By covering most of it up, I accidentally revealed what turned out to be the only important element of that painting.”

Melo is eager to inform us that usage of escondido, Spanish for “hidden”, as a defining term for this body of work helps him in his effort to straddle the lines of figurative art and abstraction with his attempt at concealing much of his canvassed figures with an overlapping, white textured fabric. Something we have not seen often from the artist. Melo urges us to allow ourselves the capacity to observe a deeper revelation of who the subjects truly are, and what you achieve in this mental cinema is an artistic reflection of the muse’ universe and direct environment – the sharp cadence, and relationship between the subjects and their presented obstacles give the viewer a direct curriculum to understand them as individuals. “Escondido” emphasizes the notion that sometimes, what remains hidden is what truly reveals the core of our being. This work invites the viewer to look beyond what is initially visible, encouraging an intimate connection which is intended to reveal one’s empathy, humanity, and compassion.

Melo is quoted, “I’m an artist dedicated to unearthing concealed narratives in history, music, and culture. My artistic expression spans various forms, from painting to sculpture and murals, each serving as a conduit to honor, commemorate, and shine a light on overlooked stories of historical figures.

My mission is to equip viewers with tools for curiosity, inquiry, and accountability, particularly when familiar stories are reframed through unfamiliar perspectives. I strive to deepen our appreciation for the complex tapestry of human experience and history, bridging past and present.

I encourage exploration, reflection, and connection with the stories I bring to life, inspiring a profound engagement with history, art, and culture. My art aims to foster empathy and understanding that transcends time and borders. It is a transformative journey that promises a meaningful experience for all who embrace it”.

• Jeffrey Melo. (Courtesy of New American Painters, Issue #170 - Northeast 2024.)