Life is Elsewhere
by Melanie Norris
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Dear Melanie, Thank you for agreeing to be part of HocTok. Did you know from early age that you wanted to be an artist, a painter? Who are the people, artists or otherwise, who have influenced you most in that decision? This question is always tough to answer. I don’t think I did know. There’s quite a difference between painting, enjoying and pursuing the craft, and making a living at it. Making a living at anything self-directed is difficult, but painting full-time is certainly a unique challenge. I’ve always gained deep satisfaction from creating paintings, so that part did come from an early age. |
Photo Credit: courtesy of the artist |
But I did not set out to make it my job, it’s just that my love of painting somehow aligned with exchanging my work for money, which led to it taking more attention and time, until it became the only thing I woke up and worked on every day. Which is weird, and should not be the goal, just a residual effect, in my opinion.
My parents have always been very positive and supportive. There are many artists I’ve struck up friendships with/tried to finagle them into mentoring me.
I really enjoy reaching out to artists I admire and hearing their stories. Everyone’s journey is different and fascinating, and I like to learn through them.
Why did you choose Asheville as the place to live and work? How does life in Asheville have an impact on your artistic choices?
Asheville is about one hour from my hometown. It is a very progressive bubble in the southeast and incredibly supportive of the arts. It seemed like a nice place to try out after college; my plan was to use it only as a stopover before I decided where I wanted to go, but things have worked out very well here.
There is a high concentration of good artists here, so I feel that the more involved in the community I get, the more I am challenged to keep getting better and more serious with my work.
“… a body isn’t existence, but simply a vessel.” When did you decide this is one of the themes you wanted to concentrate on?
After painting and studying faces for so long, I became very interested in what animates them – the spirit.
Bodies are uncomfortable, finite signifiers of who we are, I operate under the belief that this can’t be all there is. That the faces, hands, eyes, brains are the agents of a soul and a conscience. And that all people have one, and they all work together. Or would if we’d let them.
My parents have always been very positive and supportive. There are many artists I’ve struck up friendships with/tried to finagle them into mentoring me.
I really enjoy reaching out to artists I admire and hearing their stories. Everyone’s journey is different and fascinating, and I like to learn through them.
Why did you choose Asheville as the place to live and work? How does life in Asheville have an impact on your artistic choices?
Asheville is about one hour from my hometown. It is a very progressive bubble in the southeast and incredibly supportive of the arts. It seemed like a nice place to try out after college; my plan was to use it only as a stopover before I decided where I wanted to go, but things have worked out very well here.
There is a high concentration of good artists here, so I feel that the more involved in the community I get, the more I am challenged to keep getting better and more serious with my work.
“… a body isn’t existence, but simply a vessel.” When did you decide this is one of the themes you wanted to concentrate on?
After painting and studying faces for so long, I became very interested in what animates them – the spirit.
Bodies are uncomfortable, finite signifiers of who we are, I operate under the belief that this can’t be all there is. That the faces, hands, eyes, brains are the agents of a soul and a conscience. And that all people have one, and they all work together. Or would if we’d let them.
Your artist statement ends with you saying: “The true beauty of humans lies in their bared vulnerability and characteristic flaws.” How did you come to this realization?
We shouldn’t cover up or repress the things that make us human, psychologically speaking. I began portraiture as a child with the intention of painting beautiful people beautifully, because that’s what I saw in the magazines, etc. It doesn’t take long to get bored with this.
I began to paint, not models ripped out of magazines, but friends and family, old grizzled men, and I fell in love with conveying character and real stories. That’s evolved into using my subjects, friends and family still, to convey all of the difficulties I’ve had while growing into an adult. The mistakes, the feelings and emotions that I was taught by society to conceal, these are what make me who I am. And what makes her who she is, and what makes you who you are.
I want the feelings of elation/despair housed in the same bubble, disillusionment and confusion and thoughts that are destructive or silly – these are all beautiful and deserve a platform.
You have a series of works titled “Life is Elsewhere.” Is there a story behind this title?
I began this series at a residency in Joutsa, Finland. It was a very remote village emerging out of winter darkness. I felt very lonely and isolated there.
I began drawing and painting based on the feeling that no matter where I am, there will always be a part that wishes it was elsewhere. That the enchanting part of life might be the constant imagining of an elsewhere.
It’s also the title of a Milan Kundera book, whose work I absolutely adore.
In what sense of the word are you interested in “Identity”? What kind of place does that definition occupy in today’s world?
I explore identity as this: when I look in the mirror, how often do I see myself? How often do I see my face - that could just as easily be someone else’s face? Like Sartre’s novel Nausea, I am sometimes freaked out by the features that have come to define who I am to everyone I meet.
My Identity paintings scratch at the notion of what I see when I look at someone – is it their identity? In today’s world, oh my goodness, identity is so heavy. We create groups around it, we hate groups around it. It’s a convoluted word and concept.
As preparation for your portraits, you “…search out the soul by sitting and having a conversation with my subjects.” What is the most difficult part of this process?
Finding the balance between being natural as well as hyper-conscious of the situation, which creates an awkwardness that I like for both myself and the subject.
How do you choose your subjects? What are some of the essential elements that you are interested in portraying?
Sometimes it’s as easy as who’s around during the weeks/months that I’m creating a series. Often friends and family, sometimes a person who walks in the studio and strikes me the right way. It’s sometimes love, intuition. Other times it’s necessity, pragmatism.
What are some of the thoughts that have made you pause recently?
Republicanism, the morality of stories we’re taught as children, posture, whether it’s gross for an artist to define him/herself as an entrepreneur, whether to buy a gas or electric weed-whacker.
What has been the most invigorating experience with a direct or indirect connection to your art?
Every day brings new invigoration! Whether it’s a new collector contacting me, ruining a painting in a hideous way that makes me work harder to bring it back, a meeting with a new subject, beginning an exciting and fear-inducing painting, an article getting published, designing a home studio, buying a new brush, stepping and smashing on an old pastel, and the little burst of rage that blooms from that insignificant moment.
I have to let at least every other day bring sincere invigoration, or this lifestyle would be too exhausting.
It takes an indefatigable and child-like sense of wonder to persist in this world. Waiting for the big things to bring joy only brings depression, I’ve learned.
What are you currently working on? What are some of your future plans?
I am getting caught up on commissioned work, constructing a studio on my property, working on an outdoor painting installation so my work can be accessed easily by the public.
My future series will be large, wicked, sickeningly lovely diptychs of double portraits. The idea of two, halved, not in a way that makes them one, but makes them…what? I hope to be able to answer that questions in the near future.