Melissa Meyer American, 1947

Melissa Meyer is an American abstract artist known for her gestural, calligraphic style and bold use of colour. She trained with Helen Frankenthaler early in her career and is an outspoken feminist artist -- Meyer was a member of the Heresies Collective and co-founded the "femmage" movement with Miriam Schapiro in the 1970s. Meyer received a BS and an MA from NYU. Her works are held in the collections of MoMA, the National Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Jewish Museum, the New York Public Library, and the Brooklyn Museum, among other public and private institutions. Meyer lives and works in New York City, where she teaches at the NY School of Visual Arts. Meyer has also taught at the NY Studio School, Cooper Union, Columbia, Rhode Island School of Design, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Two large-scale murals she completed in 2003 are now installed in the Shiodome City Center in Tokyo, Japan.

Art critic Karen Wilkin likens the appearance of Meyer's colours to the glow of stained glass. As Jocund's title suggests, the brushstrokes layer over one another to create a

playful and complex visual harmony. The bright green, midnight blue, and sunny yellow (among other colours) evoke a wild garden. However, despite the energy of the lines, Meyer's grid-like composition gives the work a strong sense of stability.

Meyer's works are held in the collections of MoMA, the National Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Jewish Museum, the New York Public Library, and the Brooklyn Museum, among other public and private institutions.