Opening: Colors of the Sun, Songs of the Moon

On view: August 19–September 20
Opening reception: August 19, 6-10 pm, with the artist in attendance.

LUN + OJO Gallery is pleased to present a new solo art show Colors of the Sun, Songs of the Moon, featuring colorful Western-themed mixed-media paintings and drawings by Melissa Lakey.

Melissa Lakey is a contemporary visual artist and illustrator based in Joshua Tree, California, where the windows of her art studio look out into the Mojave Desert. Her work is inspired by the desert landscape that surrounds her, and her love of color, cowboys, and the wild west.

She says, “The desert finds its way into my work through the colors I see in the sky each morning and evening, the animals that pass by my studio, and the unique shapes of the rocks, trees, and plants that are found here. I don’t paint in realistic colors of the desert but the sun-gold colors of sunset. Tangerine, vermillion, blush—I love warm colors that feel like the sun on my skin. I wanted to be a cowgirl when I grew up, but I ended up an artist instead, and now cowboys ride through my paintings, picking flowers and stopping to swim in every creek they pass.”

The show features work on paper, canvas, and wood, created with a variety of art materials. “I use any and every type of art material—ink, gouache, watercolor, acrylic, colored pencil, and oil pastel. I paint quickly and try to leave room in each painting for surprises, experiments, and play. The desert I paint is a desert made of dreams, the colors of the sun, and songs of the moon,” says Lakey.