Melissa Brown (b. 1974, Morristown, NJ) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Brown’s practice is an ongoing investigation into the nature of reality, particularly how contemporary life slides between strolling the sidewalk and scrolling our phones…..and how this straddled split turns an ordinary day into a waking dream haunted by synchronistic symbols, idealized memory fragments and distortions of physical space. Using a mashup of representational modes in painting she depicts spatial phenomena inside familiar scenes: uploading an image, facing mirrors creating infinity, the sky reflecting in the black mirror of a phone. The motifs derive from observed, personal experiences but could be from anyone’s point of view. Her aesthetics hue from ubiquitous, commercial print history: cmyk, flat color, isometric perspective, scratch-off layers, tourist postcard compositions and currency. Her idiosyncratic brand of “realism” is obsessed with cataloging the ultra-modern sensation of existing in multiple, simultaneous realms. Playing cards and signifiers of luck and fortune drift through her scenes, a nod to the eternal power struggle between history, personal will and chance.
Painting is at the center of Brown’s practice, but she also works in print, animation and performance. Recent paintings have embedded QR codes that open animations that expand painted scenes into another dimension. For ten years, Brown has organized poker games played for art at galleries and art fairs. This began as an effort to allow artists to use their artwork as a direct currency, unconverted to fiat art market values. Additionally, it's a way to create an art collection through wit, chance and skill.
Brown has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally and is represented by Derek Eller Gallery in New York City. She was awarded a Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program residency in 2024-25. In 2012, she was awarded the Joan Mitchell Painter’s Grant and a residency at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans, 2019. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the New York Department of Education and the Fidelity Corporate Collection. She is a Professor in studio art at Lehman College of the City University of New York.
photo by Nicolas Calcott
contact: studiomelissabrown (at) gmail.com
social: @boogiebrowntown
Solo Exhibitions
2025
Flower Games, Cellar Contemporary, Trento, Italy
2024
Rules of the Game, Center for Book Arts, New York, NY
2023
Windows and Bars, Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY
2022
West Coast Paintings, Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA
Thrift Store Find, Andrew Rafacz, Chicago, IL
2020
NYNY2020, Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY
2018
Between States, Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY
2017
Melissa Brown, Tennis Elbow, the Journal Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2016
Money Shots, Roberto Paradise, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Past Present Future, Magenta Plains, New York, NY
Future Past, Big Medium for Print Austin, Austin, TX
2015
Eye in The Sky Hold ‘Em, NADA Special Project, Basketball City, New York, NY
Four Play, Essex Flowers, New York, NY
2014
Eye in the Sky Hold Em, Where, Brooklyn, NY
2013
Solo Booth, Untitled, Fred Giampietro, Miami, FL
Gertrudes Nose, Fred Giampietro, New Haven, CT
2012
Kings Park, Roberto Paradise, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Palisades, Kansas Gallery, New York, NY
2011
Dotto Lotto, CRLab at Winkleman curated by Julie Chae, New York, NY
2009
Paper Fortune, Canada, New York, NY
2004
5 Artist Shows, Kenny Schachter, Rove Projects, London, England
2003
Smokin’ Mirrors, Bellwether Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Group Exhibitions
2025
Couch Show, Curated by Tif Sigfrid and Sadie Laska, Canada, New York, NY
(forthcoming) Resistance and Reimagination, Magenta Planes, New York, NY
(forthcoming) Hi-Dose, The Pit LA, Los Angeles, CA
2024
Inaugural Exhibition, Derek Eller, New York, NY
New Shocks, Classic Cars Manhattan, Curated by Steve Ellis, New York, NY
With Yourself, Gaa Gallery, Cologne, Germany
2023
Mirror Milk, Satchel Projects, New York, NY
Adventure in My Dream, Andrew Rafacz / Color Club, Chicago, IL
The Ways of Magic, Troost Gardens, Kansas City, MO
2022
Digital Analog, Peninsula School of Art and Gallery, Fish Creek, WI
Metafiguration, Tops Gallery, Memphis, TN
Nothing is to be Done for William T. Wiley, Parker Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Lichtung, Gaa Gallery, Provincetown, MA
2021
The Interior, Venus Over Manhattan, New York, NY
Friends and Family, Magenta Plains, New York, NY
This is Water, Workplace, London, England
our constellations: astral embraces and tactual consciousness, Curated by Terri C. Smith, Emerson Dorsch Gallery, Miami, FL
Balloons Dropping from a Ceiling Fan, curated by Morgan Blair, Left Field Gallery, Los Osos, CA
Potent, curated by Nicasio Fernandez Harpers, East Hampton, NY
2020
All of them Witches, curated by Dan Nadel and Laurie Simmons, Deitch Projects, Los Angeles
E-Motionø Support Group, curated by Lauren Powell, Art of this World, IGTV
2019
Fountain, Melissa Brown and Jamie Bull, curated by Katie Geha at the Lamar Dodd Galleries, University of Georgia
2018
Going AWOL, Patrick Brennan and Melissa Brown, Biggins Gallery at Auburn University, Auburn, AL
Hedonist, curated by Irena Jurek, Asya Geisberg Gallery, New York, NY
Show Your Hand, Small Editions, Brooklyn, NYFace Off, curated by Caroline Larson, Greenpoint Terminal Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Spring Break Art Show, Black Room curated by Emily Davidson and Samantha Strand, New York, NY
2017
Genesis Belanger, Melissa Brown, Roy DeForest, Mimi Gross, curated by Dan Nadel, Derek Eller, New York, NY
Hide and Go Chic, Rover Gallery, Chicago, IL
The Dating Game, Rover Gallery, Chicago, IL
Drawing Island, the Journal Gallery, New York, NY
2016
Nosegays, Tussie-Mussies and Possies, Essex Flowers, New York, NY
Goulding The Lolly, curated by Brian Belott, Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York, NY
Booby Trap, The Hole, New York, NY
Summer Flats, Shrine, New York, NY
So Much, So Little, So All at Once, Regina Rex, New York, NY
Liquid Pictures: Lea Beeferman, Melissa Brown, Erica Magrey, Adam Shecter, Klaus von Nichtssagend, New York, NY
2015
Anderson’s Hidden Game, Loyal Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
Providence, Fracas psychedelique en Nouvelle-Angieterre, Musee International des Arts Modestes, Sete, France
Mons Dew, Mass Gallery, Austin, TX
2014
Its a Force Not a Curvature, curated by Ryan Schneider, Novella Gallery,New York, NY
Hearts Gymnastics, curated by Yevgenia Baras, Outpost Artist Resources, Brooklyn, NY
Freak Furniture Fan Club, Bright Lyons, Brooklyn, NY
2013
Draw Gym, curated by Brian Belott, 247365, Brooklyn, NY
Morphology of The Print, Lehman College Gallery, Bronx, NY
Home Screen, Petrella’s Imports at Suzanne Geis Co., New York, NY
Bathers, Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, NY
Land Ho!, curated by Ridley Howard and Holly Coulis, VCU Art Gallery, Richmond, VA
Value Added: Artist’s Perspectives on the Meaning of Worth, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ
2012
Pig Party, curated by Gina Beavers, New York City Gallery, New York, NY
B-Out, curated by Scott Hug, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY
Centaurs and Satyrs, Asya Geisberg Gallery, New York, NY
Ctrl+P, curated by Kristina Bilonick and Julie Chae, Arlington Arts Center, VA
Chromochosom, Fred Giampietro, New Haven, CT2011 Gumption, ZieherSmith, New York, NY
Summer Salt, curated by Ingrid Dinter, The Proposition, New York, NY
Paper A-Z, Sue Scott Gallery, New York, NY
Dadareaha, CANADA, New York, NY
Public Collections
The Whitney Museum of American Art
New York City Department of Education
Fidelity Corporate Collection
The Brooklyn Museum
Education
1996 BFA, Printmaking, Rhode Island School of Design
1999 MFA, Painting, Yale University
2000 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
Melissa Brown is a Professor in studio art at Lehman College, The City University of New York