Artist-in-Residence, Kala Art Institute, 2025

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 creates richly textured landscapes using colors and shapes that symbolize the cosmos. Her works operate at the intersection of archaeology and astronomy, striving for a connection between humanity, 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 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 2020, and has since exhibited at Opalka Gallery (with Collar Works) in Albany, NY; Torrance Art Museum in Los Angeles, CA; the de Young Museum in San Francisco, CA; and Root Division (solo exhibition) in SF, CA. Her work can be found in private and public collections, including Brown University in Providence, RI and Meta in Menlo Park, CA. She has received an Individual Emerging Artist Fellowship from the California Arts Council and residencies at Root Division in SF, CA and Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, CA. She is represented by Wavelength Space in their flat file collection.