Melissa Paredes

Much of Melissa Paredesl's artistic work focuses on the representation of light in painting and drawing. This interest stems from her early exposure to the art world and a personal tendency to find quiet moments in places where light shines.

Her work has developed in techniques such as watercolor, gouache and ink, as she has found in these water-based techniques on paper a way of representing light much closer to what she perceives in the real world... Although the various projects are based on the depiction of school classroom scenes, there is one constant: the landscape. In these landscapes, she prefers to capture the incidence of light on foliage and places, trying to create bucolic and colorful environments.

Melissa Paredes Requena develops the project Septentrional Light Study of the incidence of light in Montreal during her residency at the Fonderie Darling. She studies, observes and draws the light in Montreal in late autumn and early winter, its interaction with objects and nature; she travels around the city and its surroundings, making drawings in ink and keeping a travel diary for small studies. She chooses to make these drawings in ink because she finds this technique ideal for depicting the transitions between light and shadow, creating soft and strong contrasts in a fluid and delicate way.

Biography

Melissa Paredes is a Mexican visual artist based in Mexico City. She studied Fine Arts at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas of the UNAM. She was the winner of the Jóvenes Creadores scholarship in 2014-2015 and 2021-2022. She has had solo exhibitions in Mexico City and Nuevo León. She has participated in several group exhibitions in Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey. She has been selected for Arte Joven 2017, J.A. Monroy Biennial 2018, Arte Emergente Monterrey 2019 and for the art fair called FAMA 2019, 2020. When she is not painting, she teaches art to children and teenagers.  Currently at Fonderie Darling in Montreal, she is enjoying her first international residency.

 

Recent exhibitions

2023	Un paisaje en común, group exhibition, Templo Rojo, Tlaxcala, MX Corazón Egoísta, group exhibition, Ache Galería, San Luis Potosí y Ciudad de México, MX VI Bienal de pintura J.A. Monroy 2022, group exhibition, Museo de Arte Raúl Anguiano, Jalisco, MX
2022	Alguna vez dije que jamás daría clases, solo exhibition, Casa Equis, México, MX Este fino borde de alambre de púas, group exhibition, LaNao galería, México, MX
2021	Panorama, group exhibition, LaNao galería, México, MX Tonada de primavera, solo exhibition, Fervor, México, MX misma clase, distinta casa, solo exhibition, La Curaduría, Nuevo León, MX