Portrait of Melanie Schiff by Sterling Ruby, 2020
Night Gallery is pleased to announce the representation of the Los Angeles-based artist Melanie Schiff. This partnership follows Schiff’s solo exhibitions Convict Lake (2022) and Glass Sabbath (2018), and inclusion in the group show Shrubs (2022).
Melanie Schiff approaches the camera lens as an extension of the mind: the ongoing distillation of visual information at once activates the memory and brings forth new interplays between self and exterior. Her interest lies in form, the thingishness of bodies and objects, her close attunement reminiscent of the still life painting tradition. But a deep understanding of light and commitment to process roots Schiff’s practice firmly in the photographic medium: light emanating from natural and artificial sources is manipulated to suggest the movement of body and time. This implication creates a sense of intimacy between the gaze of the viewer and the physicality of Schiff’s subjects, reveling in a poetically open aesthetic sensibility. Through her work, Schiff proves that meaning—like subjecthood—is elusive, fluid, multiple.
Melanie Schiff ( b. 1977, Chicago, IL) received her BFA from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and her MFA from University of Illinois Chicago. Schiff has held solo exhibitions at Night Gallery, Los Angeles; PATRON Gallery, Chicago; Kate Werble Gallery, New York; LAXART, Los Angeles; Kavi Gupta, Chicago; University Galleries of Illinois State University, Normal; Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, CA; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL. Schiff has also exhibited at venues including Anton Kern Gallery, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; MoMA PS1, Long Island City; Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami; Indianapolis Museum of Art, IN; Marian Goodman Gallery, Paris; Meyer Riegger, Karlsruhe; and Foxy Production, New York. Her work was included in the 2008 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Schiff lives and works in Los Angeles.