Mel Smothers

About

Mel Smothers is an American contemporary artist born in the west coast of the USA in 1947. Smothers evolved as an artist in Pop Art America during the 60's and 70”s, working alongside his contemporary Andy Warhol and Wayne Thiebaud. Thiebaud would later become Smothers’ University professor and a forefront figure of American Pop Art.

Mel exhibits at Art Lives Here, and Carter-Burden Gallery, New York City. Hay Hill Gallery, London. TAG Gallery, Los Angeles. JAG Gallery, Key West Florida. Archival Gallery, Sacramento, CA. In 2006 he was selected for the ‘Artists of Year,’ exhibitionat Cooper-Union, NYC. He has taught Art at the University of California, University of Idaho and University of Nevada.

He has a hard-to-find studio along the shore in Lake Tahoe.

He is also a student of fly fishing and jazz violin.

Artist Statement

This is my most recent work and  motivated by subjects inherited from our times,  drawn from personal narratives, reflecting my interest in philosophy, contemporary thought, and sources that span art history.

Almost 100 years ago, Dorothea Lange found inspiration away from her commercial salon in San Francisco. She was inspired by the figures in California camps, fields and living in their cars alongside Highway 99. Like today, she also lived in politically divided times in the last century. Her art was compelled by witnessing the class division between her subjects and the privileged politicians and corporations, who like today, discredit scientific and social evidence for their own personal power and greed, resulting in environmental, climate and human disasters. My paintings here pick up where Dorothea Lange's photographs ended.