Tamara Staser-Meltzer

My work repurposes magazine pages in order to isolate symbolic meaning and strengthen aesthetic elements. Images originally born from our hyper-commercialized society are reclaimed, interwoven, recontextualized and secured to canvas panel board with archival quality acrylic gel medium - creating a meticulous new meaning. Drawing from the traditions of narrative and allegory in classical painting, political propaganda and religious iconography, it attempts to provide an account of the present tense through a retooled assessment of our supersaturated visual vocabulary. By utilizing design elements to assess both instant and long term psychological effects of exposure to media sign inundation, the work is an examination of subconscious image recognition, as well as an identification of the benefactors of such a system. Playful at times, this anthropological quality cooks up its own theories on literal associative understanding. These completely reborn images explore how memories and specifically visual associations sway the emphasis of meaning in storytelling.

Ms. Staser-Meltzer has exhibited widely in shows across the United States including the publication “Direct Art Magazine” and shows juried by Lucinda Barnes, Chief Curator/Director of Programs & Collections, Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive; Anita Shapolsky, Owner of the Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York / New York; Kenneth Baker, Art Critic for the San Francisco Chronicle; Rebecca Morse, Associate Curator at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; artist Robbie Conal and artist Kris Kuksi. Ms. Staser-Meltzer was selected for an ongoing website feature and video screen exhibition for the 20+ nationwide locations of Lucky Strike Lanes and her work was recently shown in a national group show in Brooklyn, New York for Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition’s “Color” exhibit juried by independent curator Brooke Kamin Rapaport. Most recently, she was chosen to be part of the 2013 BAYVAN (Bay Area Visual Arts Network), exhibited in The Haggus Society's "B*TCHFEST" in Los Angeles March, 2013 and looks forward to having work in ARC Gallery's "Approaching 40" anniversary show in Chicago April, 2013. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Master of Fine Arts degree from the California College of the Arts.