Melanie Ruggeiro
My works reference the history of genre paintings through personal snapshots taken with a cell-phone. These archived images, reflected in my paintings and collage, are intimate, affectionate moments of the specifics within everyday life. The underlying content of my work is also, necessarily, an expression of the impact of COVID; my experiences of being isolated and consuming endless media. This has led to a kind of duality in my work, showing the intimate details of my life, relationships, friendship, and love; all filtered through the external world of the social media hive mind. The act of painting, drawn from a very different world, creates this curious tension - between the intimacies of my inner world. Informed by the immersive depersonalized technology of social media.