Ivy Brown Gallery is proud to present Wound of Absence, a solo exhibition by artist David Mellen, opening Thursday, May 8 running through June 26th. In a body of work that blurs the line between abstraction and figuration, Mellen explores the liminal space between what is known and what remains elusive.

The title, Wound of Absence, speaks to this duality—the wound as something recognized and tangible, the absence as what cannot be fully grasped. Through this lens, Mellen’s paintings inhabit the charged space between presence and loss, clarity and ambiguity.

Mellen’s work resists easy categorization. Gestural and psychological, his paintings hover in a liminal emotional register, inviting viewers to experience rather than decode. This exhibition marks a continued evolution in his exploration of intuition, form, and ambiguity.

   “ I’m not looking for answers. Rather, I want some kind of unconscious understanding, as when a painting produces a certain effect or feeling that pulls you in and makes sense without understanding why. The specifics don’t interest me, so my initial ideas for a painting are very abstract and these vague ideas allow me to rely on intuition to bring about a final image. Basically, I’m trying to hang a painting from an abstract concept while attempting to preserve its mystery.” -David Mellen