Rafael Melendez

Lives and works in London, UK

Artist statement

'NOTHING CAN HAPPEN IN LIFE, ESPECIALLY ANYTHING' To him, social media posts, drawings, objects/non-objects, books, posters, and even business cards are all equally valid forms of his artistic practice. He incessantly plays off one media against another in a prolifically multidisciplinary obsessive gamelike manner. Melendez's practice plays with lampooning iconic creations and image-text combinations, vibing with the taboos of western art. Melendez seeks to recast and re-examine seminal works of dada, surrealist and post-modern art through indignant and irreverent means. "Repetition and indifference to authenticity is something I had never used or worked with in my art until 1993 when I started art school in San Francisco. I realised that being original is the norm here. But for me, originality is old fashion, too draining to be a theme for a long-term art career choice, and not mentally sustainable to boot. So I will start using taboo forms I'm learning in my internships and the art journals, I'm studying. This independent motivation will harness a brighter future." - diary entry 4:20pm on 26 February 1993 Through "bad" derivative drawings, works on paper, art publications and social media posts, Melendez contemplates a more deconstructed future. His instinct of tapping into today's device-chic culture through the ownership of butchered references— while cheekily paying homage to diverse thinkers such as Jean Baudrillard, Sturtevant, Felix Gonzalez-Torres and David...

Artwork