Melissa Wang

ARTIST STATEMENT

I work across installation, mixed-media objects, painting and collaborative projects, exploring human and nonhuman entanglements that challenge human exceptionalism. As a former interdisciplinary researcher, I am inspired by ecofeminism and science-fiction. Estrangement, othering, and nonhuman intelligence or sentience are common themes in my works. 

In our age of ecological precarity, Silvia Federici notes that technology and capitalism have disenchanted nature. Thus, I build dense layers of media or materials, referencing alchemical forces or processes. Colors and shapes are metaphorical constellations, reflecting an orbit around celestial objects. Ultimately, my works operate at the intersection of archaeology and astronomy, striving for a connection between the earth and the stars.

ARTIST BIO

Melissa Wang received her B.A. in Literature/Writing from the University of California, San Diego and her M.A. in English from the University of California, Davis. She researched science-fiction as a PhD candidate before segueing to tech. In 2019, she began a professional art practice, and has since exhibited at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Torrance Art Museum, and the de Young Museum with a solo exhibition at Root Division (Frank-Ratchye space). Her work can be found in public spaces including Brown University and Meta. She is the recipient of a 2021 Individual Emerging Artist Fellowship from the California Arts Council.

In early 2020, she founded her design studio, leveraging her experience at Meta and Google to serve creatives during the pandemic. She helped launch the late Rose Imai’s website and co-organized an art auction with artist Cindy Shih, raising $11,000 for voter movement projects. In 2022, she curated her first in-person exhibition titled Grow Our Souls at SOMArts Gallery in San Francisco.

PARTNERS & CLIENTS

Google / Meta (Facebook) / California Arts Council / Lending Club / APTTUS / Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center / SOMArts Gallery / Asian Americans Against Trump / Playstation (SONY)

SELECT EXHIBITIONS

Visions of Nature, Site:Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY | 2024

California Cool Art Auction, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA | 2024

Gathered, Wavelength Space, Chattanooga, TN | 2023

Degrees of Commitment, Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN | 2023

Elemental Edifices, Wavelength Space, Chattanooga, TN | 2023

Small & Mighty, Ladies Drawing Club | 2023

Art and Ecology, Huntington Beach Art Center, Huntington Beach, CA | 2023

Faith, Hope and Dreams, Realm, Los Angeles, CA | 2022

Maps of the Intangible, Iowa Ceramics Center and Glass Studio, Cedar Rapids, IA | 2022

Bioneers Conference, San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts, SF, CA | 2022

20-year Alumni Anniversary, Root Division, SF, CA | 2022

Excuse Me, Highlights, Vessel Gallery, Oakland, CA | 2021

Intrinsic Nature, The Curator’s Salon | 2021

Transcendent Futures, Brown University (Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America), Providence, RI | 2021

Excuse Me Can I See Your ID - Two, Vessel Gallery, Oakland, CA | 2021

Earth Month, San Francisco State University (AS Art Gallery), SF, CA | 2021

Artist’s Vision 2021, Marin Society of Artists Gallery, San Rafael, CA | 2021

Hobson’s Choice 2.0, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA | 2021

Without the stars, there would be no us, Root Division (Frank-Ratchye Space), SF, CA | 2021

On the Edge, de Young Museum, SF, CA | 2020

Hope / Revolution, Stay Home Gallery, Paris, TN | 2020

Get The Message: Words & Images, Arts Benicia, Benicia, CA | 2020

Towards Justice, RPS Collective, Oakland, CA | 2020

Community Justice, Local Language Arts Gallery, Oakland, CA | 2020

Response, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA | 2020

19th Annual Art Auction, Root Division, SF, CA | 2020

Touch, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL | 2020

The Ground Upon Which We Stand, Abrams Claghorn Gallery, Albany, CA | 2020

Moonlighting (two-person show), The Red Vic Hotel, SF, CA | 2018

INTERVIEWS

Facebook / Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center / Root Division / KTUH (University of Hawaii) / VoyageLA / ShoutoutLA / GIRLS

PUBLICATIONS

Cream City Review / Columbia Journal (forthcoming 2023) / Passengers Journal / Touchstone Literary Magazine / Oyster River Pages / The Brooklyn Review / CCSF Collective / Novus Literary Arts Journal

DONATIONS

Visual Aids (artwork donated), $100, 2023
Missing Witches Indigenous Reparations Fundraiser (artwork donated), $300, 2023
Shuumi Land Tax, 2022
SF Marin Food Bank, $100, 2021
Asian American Women Artists Association (artwork donated), $100, 2021
Create to Stop Hate (artwork donated), $145, 2021
Asian Americans Against Trump (artwork donated), $550, 2020
The Trevor Project (artwork donated), $250, 2020
Rare Device (artwork donated), $175, 2020
SF Marin Food Bank, $45, 2020
Doctors Without Borders, $17, 2020