Melissa Loop, Artist

 

Hello and welcome to the 31st interview for my interview blog 3 Art Questions With Jackson! This time I am very happy about being able to ask excellent painter Melissa Loop questions. I have always been amazed by her paintings and I love how I can tell it is her right away. She gave very thoughtful answers to my questions and I think everyone will really enjoy them. Thank you for reading!

Jackson: What was it that inspired you to make art? Do you feel like you were born to paint?

Melissa: All of my art is based on places that I have visited in the past. I have a deep interest in anthropology and ways that Western culture tends to misinterpret other cultures so that tends to be a common thread in which places I choose to paint. Having a child and watching her I would say that all humans are born to paint. But for myself, painting centers me in the world and I become very off balance without it.

Jackson: Where do you get the ideas for your art? Have those ideas changed during the pandemic? 

Melissa: My painting are all based on photographs that I take while traveling. I find I need that framework to keep my focus otherwise I can go all over the place. The pandemic definitely changed what my future and I started reexamining what would make an interesting painting and what types of things I wanted to paint. My paintings take a lot of planning and time so I am actually just finishing paintings I started over a year ago before the pandemic. So people will notice the shift much more in my next batch I think.

Jackson: If you could meet any artists living or dead, who would it be and why?

Melissa: David Hockney. He is someone who has shifted through so many ways of working and doesn't mystify the idea of painting. I just want to sit and have a conversation about seeing because he has spent his whole career on it.

melissaloop.com