SEAN MELLYN: P3STUDIO
Press Release
SEAN MELLYN
BLIND CONTOUR
October 17 – November 10, 2013
Hours: Wednesday – Sunday | 6 – 11PM
P3Studio
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas
3708 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, NV 89109
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in partnership with Art Production Fund, is pleased to announce artist-in-residence Sean Mellyn. Mellyn's project, Blind Contour, invites guests to take a seat opposite the artist at one of the two easels facing each other inside the studio and using charcoal, create a blind contour drawing of him as he makes a blind contour drawing of them. During each guest's session, two sets of drawings will be made. One set will be hung in P3Studio—portraits of Mellyn will be placed in one room; portraits of guests in the other. As the portraits are accumulated, viewers will be able to see similarities across the drawings of Mellyn and universally recognized characteristics will be revealed. The room of portraits by Mellyn will provide a visual history of the variety of individuals who have passed through whom Mellyn has observed and made a connection with. Guests will be invited to keep a set of portraits.
Blind contour drawing is a method of drawing whereby the artist focuses on drawing the outline and features of the subject without actually looking at the paper. It requires no specific artistic talent, taking a more intuitive, right-brained approach that encourages the hand and eye to work as a team. Using the senses of sight and touch, artists are able to overcome stereotypes that influence the way we look at others and at what we are drawing.
Sean Mellyn is a multi-media artist who lives in New York City and works in Brooklyn. He has participated in numerous U.S. and international exhibitions and is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, NY, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. A major retrospective of his work was recently held at the UNDERLINE Gallery in New York. The exhibition captures many of the signature themes of Mellyn’s works including his ongoing fascination with observation, surveillance and ways of being seen. Mellyn attended the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.
The artist-in-residence program at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas represents one component of its larger art program, in which artists create projects that are interactive and participatory, giving guests the opportunity to connect at an authentic and personal level. Developed and curated in partnership with Art Production Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to producing ambitious public art projects, it strives to reach new audiences and expand awareness through contemporary art.
