Monika Meler

Yours, Mine, Ours, prints, recycled paper, hand-cut paper. Installation at Fresh As Fruit Gallery in Deland, Florida.

“I’m not scared of color, the more of it the better, the more it clashes, the better, I want it everywhere. I want colorful clothes, dishes, walls, furniture. I want it to be present in every aspect of my life. ”

Monika Meler is an artist living and working in Fort Wayne, Indiana (USA). Her approach to color is intense and experimental and her approach to printmaking is about unlocking the potential of the multiple. Monika’s diffused, abstract and patterned work is created with alternative printmaking processes, collage and installation. Currently she is working on large print-based, paper-cut installations.

Are there specific associations towards color in your work?

My associations are both personal and academic. I teach color theory and I have studied it extensively. Johannes Itten’s approach to color interests me. In the "Elements of Color," he wrote about how in his classes, he would start semesters by having students make color paintings and he considered the colors that they used "intuitively" in these first sessions as the colors they were drawn to. Then, he told the students they couldn't paint with those colors for a while, that they could only use the colors that did not appeal to them or that they didn't reach for intuitively. I do this in my own work a lot.

I am a fan of warm colors and over the years, I have really challenged myself to use less of these. Although I use all of the colors all the time because I am big on the interaction of complements. I almost always mix a bit of the complementary color into the color I am using. When I am using red, a bit of green always gets mixed in, not enough to change the hue but enough to just temper the red a bit. Mixing complements yields more color complexity and is an interesting thing to play with to create neutrals. As far as colors that have a "starring role," I am much more comfortable with warm colors. So to expand my palette I have been using more blues and greens.

I love industrial/digital colors. I have tons of Pantone books and I look at those colors for inspiration a lot. I have come to understand that people are often overwhelmed by how much color I use and I find that compelling. I am currently reading a book called Chromophobia, which explores how people are scared of color and how this comes through in all of the choices we make, and the things we have around us.

I'm not scared of color, the more of it the better, the more it clashes, the better, I want it everywhere. I want colorful clothes, dishes, walls, furniture. I want it to be present in every aspect of my life. One of my artistic color influences is Wassily Kandinsky. I got to know his work in High School and it was the colors he used that really made me want to become an artist. I wanted to live inside his work, because of his vivid color. There have been many other artists...Rothko, Jenny Saville, Amy Sherald whose color work I adore but Kandinsky was the first person that made me feel deeply about color.

Personal associations come from memory. My family is from Poland and I grew up there. I often think of the warmth and comfort of my mom's red lipsticks, the red rose garden my father had in our front yard in Poland, the bright yellow color of our house, the way my dad loved golden colors. All of these personal influences are part of my work.

Tower, alternative relief print, 11 x 14 inches.

“My family is from Poland and I grew up there. I often think of the warmth and comfort of my mom’s red lipsticks, the red rose garden my father had in our front yard in Poland, the bring yellow color of our house, the way my dad loved golden colors. All of these personal influences are part of my work. ”

Turn your back to the forest, your front to me, intaglio, collage, hand-cut paper and thread, 22 x 30 inches.

“Kandinsky suggested he could hear colors, and it is true that when I print with orange, I can smell the fruit when I see the color.”

How does the printmaking process itself relate to how you work with color?

When it comes to the processes of printmaking, I like the push and pull of understanding rules and breaking them. Generally, I follow the rules of printing from light to dark, so I will typically plan a path through a print there I choose three colors and print them in layers, starting with the lightest value hue to the darkest. I use a lot of transparent base in the initial layers. These colors may eventually get covered up but compositionally and spatially, they build complexity.

I have this rule that I created for my own work that I can only print three layers on a single image in a day, then I have to allow for drying time. I almost always print in layers that go over the whole image so anything more than three layers at a time and the color starts to look somewhat squished.

I print on Japanese paper and my works are often double sided so I do print on both sides of the paper, plotting three colors for each side. Sometimes, I can master finishing the print in these three colors. If not, I wait for them to dry then go in on top. What I love about the Japanese paper I use is that it is semi-translucent and the more ink I print on the surface, the more information from one side of the paper becomes visible on the other.

At times, the prints get too dark in these three layers and that is when I start breaking the rules on the "print light to dark" rules. If the print gets too dark, I give it some drying time and go in with lighter colors on top. I find that printing a light color on top of a dark color often beautifully activates layers that are hard to see when the print becomes too dark.

If you could eat a color for dinner, what color would you choose and how would it taste?

This is a fun question. I would eat orange. Orange is bright, warm, and you can actually eat orange by eating oranges, which are one of my favorite foods. In fact, at times I will eat 5 to 6 oranges as a meal. I just love them.

I do think there is an association between the color orange and oranges, the fruit and therefore the color tastes like the fruit. Kandinsky suggested he could hear colors, and it is true that when I print with orange, I can smell the fruit when I see the color.

Migrations: Yuba River, alternative relief print, 22 x 30 inches.