Melissa Boughey

Melissa Boughey is an abstract painter based in Denmark, in south Western Australia. She currently works from her home studio, overlooking pristine rehabilitated wetlands, and takes inspiration from her immediate surroundings and any recent road trips across the WA landscape.

Her textured, abstract work speaks of a life lived on the land, an intimate connection with both the wild and tamed landscapes in her close daily interactions of working on a farm and revegetating native habitat. Titles often allude to the narrative experience of these spaces and provide some insight into the thought process behind the art.

Says Melissa, “My process begins with an immersion in the landscape; jotting notes; scribbling responses; and creating a shorthand code for the natural environment. I am drawn to the rich dichotomy of both coastal and inland country and my work often sits between these two worlds. Painting for me is a sensory experience, allowing the work to develop of its own accord is paramount to the process; through mark-making, colour play, and integrity to materials and surface. Landscape becomes the vehicle for self-expression.”

Melissa completed a Bachelor of Arts (ART) Curtin University WA (1994), and then moved south where she and her partner have a family of three sons and run a small farm vineyard and cellar door. Melissa has being selected as a finalist in a number of national shows including The Paul Guest Prize for Drawing (2016), Kogarah Art Prize (2015), Albany Art Prize (2015), Lloyd Rees Landscape Prize (2015) and Fleurieu Art Prize (2011).