THE MELINA FINKELSTEIN GALLERY
IS LOCATED AT
6020 ADELINE STREET, OAKLAND, CA. 94608.
OPEN BY APPOINTMENT.
OPEN CALL
The Melina Finkelstein Gallery, located at 6020 Adeline street Oakland, CA, invites all painters and textile-based artists and curators to submit proposals for exhibitions in 2025. All exhibiting artists will have the opportunity to collaborate on a rug collection. Interested? Fill out the form below! Thank you artists! This project is part of a mission to build an artist-centered rug company. Learn more about Melina’s vision.
Melina Finkelstein Archive
90’s to present
My personal statement regarding my work:
I use color to express how I truly feel about myself and my life. Making art is a highly emotional experience. It is a calling and a fulfillment of my destiny. It is my true passion and my constant companion. This is the voice that I use to talk to my past and manifest my future.
When I was four years old my mother told me that I would be an artist and that I would live in Paris. Everything I am and everything I do is for her. All of the flowers in my paintings are for her and to honor the spirit of creativity that I inherited. Color is the medium that channels the connection between my subconscious and conscious minds and to the collective source of all creativity.
My process: I start with a graphite grid- whether I’m starting a painting or a tapestry I always start with a grid drawn with a pencil. The grid is my foundation. It is the structure underneath the matrix that calls me in to explore the cosmos and dimensions of time, space, and reality. I invite the energy of chance by selecting ratios within the grid and drawing lines based on those choices. The ratio is then repeated until the grid is fully activated. When I start painting in the shapes I use the color to find new patterns that begin emerging. When I am not in the mood to build a pattern on a grid I paint flowers or colorful piles of shapes that look like playground structures or dream machines.
A list of subjects and themes both past and present: bright and pastel colors, club culture, neon lights, modernist and Art Deco shapes and forms, modern architecture, vintage fabric, shiny and metallic textures, abundance, death, obsession, joy, innocence, pattern, fashion, flowers, stripes, grids
Thank you for your support. -Melina Finkelstein May 19th, 2022