Melle: schilder van een andere werkelijkheid = painter of a different reality = peintre d'une autre réalité

Abstract

"Melle. Last name superfluous. Because Melle is still a phenomenon. One person once saw him as the Dutch surrealist, the next thought he recognized the twentieth-century Hieronymus Bosch in him, the psychiatrist tried to fathom his subconscious and still others wounded themselves. about the outrageous genitals of his human-animal creatures. Today he is still as elusive as he was in the 1960s and 1970s, when galleries and museums regularly exhibited his work. and meaning of his work, so that learned art historians could not place him in a ready-made box. When the famous Mrs. Guggenheim rang his doorbell, he shouted that he was not at home.The man has been dead for more than fifty years and then you become an artist quickly become topical, which is why it is good that the Van Bommel van Dam Museum in Venlo, after a generous donation from the Melle Foundation, is once again presenting him with an exhibition places the interest. And with this book. In it, various specialists from their field look over the years at Melle's remarkable work, which, although contemporary, still appears to be topical. Penetrating and uncomfortable, witty and disturbing, it generously transcends time. An artistic riddle? 'Man has ruined paradise,' he said in 1968. Melle did not belong to a school, not to an ism, not to a statement of principles. Melle was his own kind and he has remained that way. Yes, we call such a person a phenomenon. And that last name? Oldeboerrigter. But you will probably forget that. That's allowed. Melle can do without."