Melissa Chandon
With animated, Pop-inspired colors and pared-down compositions, Melissa Chandon’s paintings push everyday scenes toward the brink of imaginative, dynamic abstraction. In her vibrant, graphic world infused with California light, landscape breaks down into basic elements—what she calls “core essence”—while shadows and reflections take on a life of their own.
Biography
With animated, Pop-inspired colors and pared-down compositions, Melissa Chandon’s paintings push everyday scenes toward the brink of imaginative, dynamic abstraction. In her vibrant, graphic world infused with California light, landscape breaks down into basic elements—what she calls “core essence”—while shadows and reflections take on a life of their own.
Chandon’s latest body of work, titled From There to Here, represents an accumulation of insight and technique gained over her years as an artist, from her early artistic leanings in childhood to her current position at UC Davis, where she teaches a course on color and form to visual arts majors—“an investigation into color theory and composition” that has expanded her own thinking.
Meanwhile, Chandon’s lifelong fascination with the American vernacular continues: “I am still captivated by the ideal of the holiday or vacation,” she notes. “Or perhaps it’s just simple pleasures that I relish. The simple row boat, the backyard pool, the tail-fin of a highly designed car from my parents’ generation.” In her paintings, as in the objects and scenes that inspire her work, color, form, and design fuse into brilliant images. Though many of her settings are fictionalized (or at least, altered versions of reality), they have the air of vividly remembered places.
Chandon has exhibited her work at the Center for Contemporary Art, Sacramento; the Richard L. Nelson Gallery at the University of California, Davis; and Art Santa Fe, among many others. In addition to corporate and notable private collections, her art is included in the Morris Graves Museum, Morgan Flagg Collection at the de Young Museum, San Francisco and the University of California, Davis’ Shields Library and Davis Medical Center.
Education
2011 Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University, MFA
1975 Santa Clara University, BFA
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, St. Helena, CA
2022 The Obession of Art , Bergen, Holland
2021 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2019 A Moment of Time, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2017 Selby Fleetwood Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Terzian Galleries, Park City, UT.
Skidmore Contemporary Art, Santa Monica, CA.
2016 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
Skidmore Contemporary Art, Santa Monica, CA.
2015 American Holiday, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, St. Helena, CA.
2014 American Vacation, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
Campton Gallery, New York, NY.
Keep On Truckin’, Morris Graves Museum, Eureka, CA.
2013 California Dreamin’, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, SF, CA.
Caldwell Snyder Gallery, St Helena, CA.
2012 Campton Gallery, New York, NY.
Caldwell Snyder Gallery, St. Helena, CA
2011 Campton Gallery, New York, NY
Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2010 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2009 Morris Graves Museum, Eureka, CA.
2008 John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA.
Sacramento International Airport, sponsored by the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts, Sacramento, CA.
Selby Fleetwood Gallery, Santa Fe, NM.
I Wolk Gallery, St. Helena, CA.
J Willott Gallery, Palm Desert, CA.
Selected Private and Public Collections
Morgan Flagg Collection, De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA. • Morris Graves Museum • Napa Valley Museum • Chevy Chase • Morris Graves Museum • Triton Museum of Art • University of California, Davis Medical Center • University of California, Shields Library • Greg Kondos Museum, Sacramento City College • Queen Raina Al Abdullah of Jordan • Alderwood Business Park, Seattle • Jan Jones Collection, Mayor of Las Vegas • Alan Gauber, Mondoubleau, France. • Rudd Vineyard and Winery • Woodland Medical Clinic Hospital • Schumaker Oil Collection • Tower Corporation: Russ Solomon • Ward Carry Collection • William Nicholson Collection • Trish and George Vandenburg • Nancy Gilbert • True Religion Brand Jeans
Press
PRESS
Selected Artworks
Education
2011 Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University, MFA
1975 Santa Clara University, BFA
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, St. Helena, CA
2022 The Obession of Art , Bergen, Holland
2021 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2019 A Moment of Time, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2017 Selby Fleetwood Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Terzian Galleries, Park City, UT.
Skidmore Contemporary Art, Santa Monica, CA.
2016 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
Skidmore Contemporary Art, Santa Monica, CA.
2015 American Holiday, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, St. Helena, CA.
2014 American Vacation, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
Campton Gallery, New York, NY.
Keep On Truckin’, Morris Graves Museum, Eureka, CA.
2013 California Dreamin’, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, SF, CA.
Caldwell Snyder Gallery, St Helena, CA.
2012 Campton Gallery, New York, NY.
Caldwell Snyder Gallery, St. Helena, CA
2011 Campton Gallery, New York, NY
Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2010 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2009 Morris Graves Museum, Eureka, CA.
2008 John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA.
Sacramento International Airport, sponsored by the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts, Sacramento, CA.
Selby Fleetwood Gallery, Santa Fe, NM.
I Wolk Gallery, St. Helena, CA.
J Willott Gallery, Palm Desert, CA.
Selected Private and Public Collections
Morgan Flagg Collection, De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA. • Morris Graves Museum • Napa Valley Museum • Chevy Chase • Morris Graves Museum • Triton Museum of Art • University of California, Davis Medical Center • University of California, Shields Library • Greg Kondos Museum, Sacramento City College • Queen Raina Al Abdullah of Jordan • Alderwood Business Park, Seattle • Jan Jones Collection, Mayor of Las Vegas • Alan Gauber, Mondoubleau, France. • Rudd Vineyard and Winery • Woodland Medical Clinic Hospital • Schumaker Oil Collection • Tower Corporation: Russ Solomon • Ward Carry Collection • William Nicholson Collection • Trish and George Vandenburg • Nancy Gilbert • True Religion Brand Jeans
With animated, Pop-inspired colors and pared-down compositions, Melissa Chandon’s paintings push everyday scenes toward the brink of imaginative, dynamic abstraction. In her vibrant, graphic world infused with California light, landscape breaks down into basic elements—what she calls “core essence”—while shadows and reflections take on a life of their own.
Chandon’s latest body of work, titled From There to Here, represents an accumulation of insight and technique gained over her years as an artist, from her early artistic leanings in childhood to her current position at UC Davis, where she teaches a course on color and form to visual arts majors—“an investigation into color theory and composition” that has expanded her own thinking.
Meanwhile, Chandon’s lifelong fascination with the American vernacular continues: “I am still captivated by the ideal of the holiday or vacation,” she notes. “Or perhaps it’s just simple pleasures that I relish. The simple row boat, the backyard pool, the tail-fin of a highly designed car from my parents’ generation.” In her paintings, as in the objects and scenes that inspire her work, color, form, and design fuse into brilliant images. Though many of her settings are fictionalized (or at least, altered versions of reality), they have the air of vividly remembered places.
Chandon has exhibited her work at the Center for Contemporary Art, Sacramento; the Richard L. Nelson Gallery at the University of California, Davis; and Art Santa Fe, among many others. In addition to corporate and notable private collections, her art is included in the Morris Graves Museum, Morgan Flagg Collection at the de Young Museum, San Francisco and the University of California, Davis’ Shields Library and Davis Medical Center.
Biography
Press
With animated, Pop-inspired colors and pared-down compositions, Melissa Chandon’s paintings push everyday scenes toward the brink of imaginative, dynamic abstraction. In her vibrant, graphic world infused with California light, landscape breaks down into basic elements—what she calls “core essence”—while shadows and reflections take on a life of their own.
Melissa Chandon
"Spare, graphic, gorgeous, in these paintings Northern California—especially its often forgotten rural interior—has its David Hockney."
- Simon Sadler, Professor UC Davis Art History / Design
With animated, Pop-inspired colors and pared-down compositions, Melissa Chandon’s paintings push everyday scenes toward the brink of imaginative, dynamic abstraction. In her vibrant, graphic world infused with California light, landscape breaks down into basic elements—what she calls “core essence”—while shadows and reflections take on a life of their own.