Mel Ziegler has been making abstract paintings for nearly 30 years. He works primarily with acrylics on linen canvas.
Ziegler is also an author of several books including Wild Company, published by Simon & Schuster in 2012.
Ziegler has had a career as a journalist (San Francisco Chronicle, Miami Herald and New York Magazine) and another career as an entrepreneur, founding several companies including Banana Republic and The Republic of Tea.
Represented by Chloe Gallery in San Francisco, his works were displayed in a solo exhibit at Throckmorton Theater in Mill Valley in 2019.
From January 10th through February 28th, Ziegler’s work will be displayed at the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce
As Mel writes, “Thinking can be too much of a good thing, funneling experience, observation, and energy into words. The word is not the thing. Words distance us from direct perception. When I make a painting I set out to be on the other side of words, the side where they don’t exist.”
He continues: “Turning away thought, I fall into a relaxed pace of working for the painting, The pictures start to build themselves. One stroke leads to the next and hours pass. Marks and colors swarm around and in me to find their way on to the canvas. I have no expectation except the unexpected. Here outside of time, surprise follows surprise. Ultimately the marks and colors come to agreement. The picture is complete. From the silence I see the work. As I look into the nameless field newly painted, the work whispers a name.”
First Tuesday ArtWalk is next Tuesday, February 4th from 5:30-7:30.
Aside from the First Tuesday Artwalk, the Chamber’s office is open Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 12-4pm.