Melanie Manos is an interdisciplinary artist working in performance, video, print, sculpture, and installation with a silent filmic/dadaist nod to absurdity, the surreal, and human folly. Her work stems from a compulsion to physically interact with objects and structures in an effort to commune with the built environment expressed through photography, video, and performance; an intense need to express the absurdities of daily life through video and performance; and the desire to evoke a sense of wonder through immersive experiences for viewers via installation, including but not limited to: projection, sculpture, and drawing.
Manos says her prime artmaking situation is when she's responding to place -- both natural and built environments and the intersection of humans within these environs. Her art and life goal is commissioned work in a global context.
While at MacDowell, Manos created a series of video shorts in response to the woods and the weather, including Securing the Perimeter (with stick gun), Getting (Laid) Layered (winter season, clothes, desire), and Studio Tidiness (keep the snow off the balcony). She also began a series of large charcoal tree drawings that formed the basis of an installation for solo exhibition at Re:View Contemporary, Detroit, in response to the massive cement columns within the gallery space.
Manos collaborates with Sarah Buckius as The ManosBuckius Cooperative (The MBC), exhibiting multi-channel installation, photography, and video. The collaboration's motto is Purposeful Purposefulness! Since 2007, MBC videos have appeared in video and electronic art festivals throughout the United States, and globally in more than 20 cities and 15 countries, including Brazil, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, England, France, Indonesia, Spain, Sweden, and Australia.
