Melinda Laszczynski

Region: West

Website: http://www.melindalaszczynski.com

City / State: Houston, TX

I am a compulsive collector of things that have potential. My studio is filled with materials I’m sure are magical—pink lumber, holographic film, scraps of acrylic paint peeled from the inside of jars. I’m partial to shiny stuff, bright colors, and absurd things from the dollar store. Lately, I have been painting on found lenticular prints in which the image changes as the viewer moves around the painting, or reflective glitter film. Materials are added to be simultaneously attractive and off-putting, creating tension and contradiction. Thick acrylic, glitter, or collaged paint skins are built up on and around the painting surface. I think of these paintings as portals, tactile spaces that shift. My work often becomes figurative by referencing the body or reflecting the viewer. Overall, my studio practice is playful and unapologetically girly. I am, however, a formalist at heart and invested in the language of painting and the experience of looking.