I realized I was an artist in my twenties when I began as a professional fashion and special effects makeup artist in California.  This is ironic to me, considering I was born with one legally blind eye and to this day still have double vision with a tendency for pareidolia.  I was exposed to the world of modern art and began to paint on canvas. The people, music, dance and art of Africa were studied and are very influential even in my work today.  My early works included mask sculptures on canvas using organic materials such as, porcupine quills, feathers, leather, egg shells, turtle sheddings and stones, which call the viewer to my own spirit to build a pathway to our humaness and primitive ancestory.

After attending art classes at California State, Long Beach and Fullerton College in California, I continued to show and win awards in Las Vegas, and Colorado soon obtaining a degree in Multimedia.  2004 brought me to Florida where I have now dedicate my life to a successful fine arts career near the Gulf of Mexico.  This past year brought the Charitable Art Fund Grant, The Art Ovation Residency for June 2024 and The Praxis Award for Writing. I continue to donate yearly to the http://www.haloartsproject.com and http://www.bestbuddies/wisconsin.org, as well, as other community art projects such as sidewalk painting for the Sarasota Art Avenue.

Expressionism vs Perfectionism.  Imagination vs Reality.  Individuality vs Conformity. Trust vs Fear .   These battles in my mind not only resound throughout my work, but resonate with individual and the World’s issues today.   They are especially prominent in my multi resin layered sculptures on canvas and other works with the female form.  representing communal and individual concerns including abuse of women, self esteem, abandonment and isolation.  Symbolic elements are common in my projects, such as, mirror, adding another subconscious call to the viewer to reflect on their inner selves.

Today I create multi layered abstract canvases, with obscure faces, figures and scenes that morph and alter with lighting and shifts of ones gaze.  Ontological questions inspire my work, with a passion for the epistemological study of time, the existence of other dimensions and cosmic time travel with lingering questions of life and death.  Research into the latest scientific and metaphysical theories combined with my own insights, visions and dreams, has prompted an urgent desire to translate these abstract concepts into palpable art using resin, interference, textures, plexiglass, wire and mirror to give sustenance and form to these abstruse theories while visually portraying human connections on a ethereal level. New materials stimulate ideas incorporating frequency, sound and lighting to transcend the boundaries of canvas into interactive works that merge science, philosophy and art.

“SHRED the BOX” – Melissa Libutti