Michele Montalbano

Michele Montalbano, a multimedia artist born in Los Angeles, California, is now based in the Washington, DC area, where she received an MFA in painting from George Washington University. Her inspiration for paintings, prints, and installations stems from nature, memory, and imagination.

Montalbano's work has been exhibited in numerous group and solo shows in the DC area, including the McLean Project for the Arts, Hillyer Art Space, Arlington Arts Center, and the Workhouse Arts Center. She has participated in artist residencies at the Vermont Studio School and La Baldi Residency in Tuscany. Montalbano has been a finalist for the Trawick Prize and the Bethesda Painting Awards, and she received the Strauss Fellowship. Her work is part of several private collections as well as the Art Bank collection of the DC Commission on the Arts. In 2024, Montalbano will showcase her new paintings of invented landscapes at The Painting Center in Chelsea, New York.


Artist Statement

As a Californian native, I grew up outdoors, inherently drawn to nature. As I watch the environment crumble, I feel the need to depict a world that honors nature’s beauty and provides hope—a momentary escape from a chaotic, ever-changing world—for both myself as the artist and for the viewer.

Paint is the medium that I first fell in love with and is a constant in my work. I strive to bring some of the sensual beauty of nature to the surface of the canvas through the rich colors and layered textures that oil paint allows. My series of oil paintings, “Seeking Hiding Places,” marries the traditional landscape narrative with an imaginative memory-inducing subject, expressing the beauty, power, and vulnerability within nature.

This new approach to the subject, which prioritizes imagination over a highly rendered style, presents a challenge—painting invented landscape spaces that evoke reverie. Before paint touches canvas, the process involves compiling various forms of imagery digitally in Photoshop to create a motif that intrigues me. This part of the process is incredibly valuable, as it frees my imagination and holds no boundaries or canvas edges. The collages become my new subjects, existing somewhere between the familiar and the unpredictable, and I’m tasked with creating a credible space that reflects my relationship with nature. The final landscapes serve as reprieves of escape, rather than mere assemblages of disparate images.


www.michelemontalbano.com

How has the environment you grew up in affected your art practice?

I grew up in Southern California and spent a lot of time on the coast. Much of the imagery in my paintings comes from the beach town where my family spent summers and where I still visit today. The ocean, cliffs, railroad tracks, and vegetation are presented in invented and abstracted forms drawn from my memories.


If your artwork was a mirror, what would it reflect?

My intention is to reflect the peaceful calm that I find in nature and hope that the viewer can sense that when engaging with the work.


What is the most difficult part (or your least favorite part) of your process?

These works are imagined, and therefore inventing and reinventing color and shapes many times can make it a slow process. Regardless of the time it takes, I enjoy working through a painting from beginning to end as if putting together a puzzle.


Pursuing ‘artist’ as a career is not for the faint of heart. What is the most rewarding aspect of this pursuit?

I’m motivated by the idea of creating new worlds with my work that I would want to be a part of and find solace in. This path has also enriched my life by connecting me to inspiring people and places that I wouldn’t have encountered otherwise. I feel lucky for that, and for the time and space to pursue this career.


If your art is in a lineage of artists working within similar veins, who would be part of your lineage and why?

I look to Bonnard and Matisse to inform my approach to composition and invention within landscape painting. I also love to include detailed areas in my work that are inspired by Renaissance painters like Botticelli and Bellini.