John Neylon on Downsides Up, Insides Out, Mel Brown, Proxemic series

“Like a tumbling fugue, Melanie Brown’s interlaced figures initially present as closed worlds, off-limits to anyone who thought to intervene or interrogate.
These are lovers or confidants, absorbed in their shared intimacy. But there are gaps, crevices, windows of visual opportunity that reward the sustained gaze
and allow the spectator to vicariously enter into the dance. The dark, burnished tones of each image and the dramatic interplay of light and dark lend the mood a Baroque intensity which hints at furtive pleasures and dark secrets”. (Neylon 2023)

John Neylon, Arts critique, writer & painter
Visual arts : InReview