Melissa Brown (b. 1974, Morristown, NJ; lives and works in Brooklyn, New York) explores themes of remembrance and interpretation through her mixed-media work. Brown works with a collage of painting techniques, including airbrush, impasto, silkscreen, and stencil, alongside acrylic. She is interested in the hierarchical differences between how a memory is captured in the digital sphere versus how it is remembered in the body: how the human mind pushes forward what is emotionally resonant, phenomenological, or temporarily beautiful and how this feels categorically different from how the cloud stores experience as a static, retrievable image. Brown’s compositions transform familiar landscapes, interiors, and still lives into surreal tableaus that illuminate the obvious yet invisible symbolic structures in ordinary existence.
She holds a BFA in Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design and earned an MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University. Brown also attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2000. She is currently a professor at Lehman College of the City University of New York. Brown has received numerous awards and residencies throughout her career including a residency at Headlands Center for the Arts in 2026, and participation in the Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program from 2024 to 2025.
Brown has been exhibiting at the Gallery since 2017. Solo exhibitions include Cellar Contemporary, Trento, Italy (2025); Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles (2022); and Andrew Rafacz, Chicago (2022). Brown has also been in numerous group exhibitions including at CANADA, New York (2025); Classic Car Club, New York (2024); Satchel Projects, New York (2023); Tops Gallery, Memphis (2022); and Venus Over Manhattan, New York (2021). Melissa’s works can be found in permanent collections at The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; New York City Department of Education; Fidelity Corporate Collection; and the Brooklyn Museum.