Melissa Wang

ARTIST STATEMENT

Melissa Wang grounds her work in abstraction, using painting, sculpture, and installation to explore human and nonhuman entanglements. As a former researcher and designer in tech, she is concept-driven, looking to ecofeminism and science-fiction for themes that challenge Western anthropocentrism. Referencing NASA images or natural phenomena, Wang layers paint or media to create richly textured landscapes that integrate colors and shapes symbolizing the cosmos. Her works operate at the intersection of archaeology and astronomy, striving for a connection between humanity, the earth, and the stars.

ARTIST BIO

Melissa Wang (b.1985) 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 worked in healthcare and academia before segueing to tech. Disillusioned by the industry's response to climate change, she began a professional art practice in 2019, and has since exhibited at Opalka Gallery (in partnership with Collar Works) in Albany, NY, the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN, Torrance Art Museum in Los Angeles, CA, and the de Young Museum in San Francisco, CA with a solo exhibition at Root Division (Frank-Ratchye space) in SF, CA. Her work can be found in public spaces including Brown University in Providence, RI and Meta HQ in Menlo Park, CA. In 2021, she received an Individual Emerging Artist Fellowship from the California Arts Council. She is represented by Wavelength Space in Chattanooga, TN in their flat file collection.

In early 2020, she founded her design studio, leveraging her 12+ years of design experience (including at Meta and Google) to launch artist websites and initiatives, including an art auction 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. She has led workshops at Meta and Sony and from 2022-23, served as a grant panelist for the California Arts Council, reviewing grants of up to $1 million for statewide art initiatives.

SELECT EXHIBITIONS

2024

Artist in Residence, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA

Convergence of Creativity, Lindsay Dirks Brown Gallery, San Ramon, CA

Small Works 2024, Main Street Arts, Clifton Springs, NY

Painting at Night, Collar Works & Artist/Mother & Opalka Gallery, Albany, NY

Visions of Nature, Site:Brooklyn Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

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

2023

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

Elemental Edifices, Wavelength Space, Chattanooga, TN

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

2022

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

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

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

2021

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

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

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

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

2020

On the Edge, de Young Museum, SF, CA

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

Response, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA

2018

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

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, 2025 (upcoming)

Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, $115, 2024

Tamara Abu Dayer / Operation Olive Branch (artwork donated), $150, 2024

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