Lumière

"Since recently moving to the country, living just north of Gimli Manitoba, I have become more inspired and aware of different light sources and have been using more thin transparent glazes and washes of oil paint, especially in certain paintings, for example Fire in the Field. I'm continuing to use similar themes that for me have dual meanings, that can be seen as devastating or beautiful at the same time, and that can address issues with the devolution of our nature. While on a residency last summer in Riding Mountain National Park, on our drive to Deep Bay, there was a CBC radio talk show addressing the degradation of our National Parks and the impact on fragile ecosystems, varying government support for issues concerning research and preservation efforts such as controlled fire and reckless impacts on natural complex cycles in the environment."In my painting I want to illustrate how fire can also symbolize re-birth, a re-growth and cleansing. I want the work to linger between a dangerous force and a beautiful occurrence with bright colours emphasized to create a beauty amongst the danger. A burning life force."

-- Mélanie Rocan, February 2015

Mélanie Rocan completed her MFA in the painting program at Concordia University, in Montreal (2008). In 2003, she graduated from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Honours Degree, thesis in painting. A recent survey of Rocan's work, Souvenir Involontaire, with catalogue essay by Josée Drouin-Brisebois, was organized by Ann MacDonald for the Doris McCarthy Gallery and toured Canada in 2012-2013.