Dennis Hollingsworth

Doug Melini

The circumstances that brought Doug and I together in LA recede into my corroding memory. He was a young hungry artist just out of CalArts, he was painting seriously and he wanted to talk. I remember driving somewhere in LA's Koreatown, finding his studio in a funky building, crumbling plaster straight out of a John Fante story(remember, artists need cheap rent so that they can become the first audience). Crisp, sharp paintings in crumbling rooms.

I remember my first impression of Doug as driven in a East Coast way (very good), intense and questioning (also very good). We had a great conversation over work recently done, the very essence of why I became an artist. I remember him saying that he wanted to get back to the East Coast as soon as he could. That was the last I heard from him.

And then he popped up in the comments of this here blog. How fantastic this web thingy is!

I have since moved to NYC(1999) and live and work in Williamsburg Brooklyn. Love NY, but it is tuff to exist here. I have yet to find a gallery in NY, but I have been showing a bit. Had a white room last summer. I installed a 62(+) foot painting (took 3 years to make). You could check it out at www.whitecolumns.org,also had a show in London @ Rocket Gallery, can check out there site www.rocketgallery.com also to see my show there. I am in a show right now in Berlin @ DaimlerChrysler Contemporary, and I will be in a
show at the Kunsthalle in Mallorca this summer, closer to your neck of the woods.
Just got married three weeks ago to my long time girlfriend. I guess that about covers me.

A toast to you, Doug and all this good news, especially your marraige!