Focus on Melissa Clements

Melissa Clements slices through artifice and skewers your view with breath-holding and breathtaking paintings.

‘Slaying of a Tyrant While a Hen Takes Flight’ is her uncompromising reiteration of ‘Judith Slaying Holoferns’. A moment of retribution towards oppressors.

Slaying of a Tyrant While a Hen Takes Flight by Melissa Clements

First interpreted by both Gentileschi and Caravaggio and showcased in venerated museums, Melissa Clements has reiterated the moment for contemporary relevance. It was first heralded in her PS Art Space solo exhibition in Fremantle.

That body of work embraced the shadowy gallery space and chiaroscuro. She introduced us to the black sheep within the muse.          

A subsequent trip into the Arctic wilderness - to Trollsteinen near the North Pole - delivered the yin to that yang. Hiking up a mountain shrouded in whiteness; tripping in freezing and frightening isolation.

Conversion On The Way to The Mountain by Melissa Clements

‘I remember thinking I am not going to be able to paint because it will be too bright’.

That fall triggered a personal transformation; a Caravaggio conversion might have occurred. (Think ‘The Conversion of St Paul on the way to Damascus’ painting).

The white ‘Lost Sheep on the Mountain’ self-portrait, appeared.

Lost Sheep on a Mountain by Melissa Clements

‘Confrontation of the Brazen Serpent’ is an example of how she explores and echoes mythical and biblical settings ‘without being preachy’.

God commands Moses to create a golden serpent and attach it to a pole, a moral tale for the Israelites; the gold serpent was carried by Jesus to his crucifixion prophesying that anyone bitten by a fiery serpent should look at that reptile and be immune to its venom.

Confrontation of the Brazen Serpent by Melissa Clements

Melissa was selected for both the Archibald and Lester Portrait Prizes

‘Yoshio Honjo against Vermillion’ featured in the 2025 Lester Prize. His body is adorned with meaningful tattoos.

Yoshio Honjo against Vermillion by Melissa Clements

The gaze is direct. And the positioning, a nod to Van Gogh’s Pere Tanguy portraits - the triangular pose, and prints haloing him.

Her Nan, the protector, caring for children, grandchildren and livestock became ‘Protection of Innocence’ refuge.

Protection of Innocence by Melissa Clements

Compromise is nowhere to be seen in Melissa’s art. She chronicles humanity in its most venomous and vulnerable.

#melclmnts #thelsterprize #WAPortraitArtists #caravaggio @yoshiohonjo @ps.artspace #ps.artspace #portraitpainting #portrait #art #painting #artist #oilpainting #artwork #contemporaryart #artistsoninstagram #acrylicpainting #portraitart #drawing #portraitdrawing #artoftheday #figurativeart #fineart #illustration #artgallery #digitalart #instaart #portraitartist #portraits #watercolor #digitalpainting #paintings #figurativepainting #contemporarypainting #sketch #portraiture #oiloncanvas