The artist who lets nothing restrict her creative process
“There’re many artists who are very focused on one specific media and I think that’s great, but for me, I’m always interested in exploring different forms” says Melika
Melika is a multidisciplinary artist residing in the UAE who was born in Tehran, Iran and raised in Dubai. Drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, photography, video, and animation are all part of her body of work. She has shown her work in several group exhibitions, including The Womanhood Project and the Noon Arts Award’s shortlisted artists’ exhibition, where her painting titled Gray won the award in the painting category.
Additionally, many international celebrities have featured her work, including NYU, Airport Road magazine,
The Gazelle publication, and Broadway on Demand. Most recently, the biennial Tisch Animation Film Festival in New York chose her stop-motion animation, “The Lockdown,” as its opening film.
Melika, also known online as Melzarts, has been documenting her artwork for more than eight years and publishing it online. During this time, she has worked with a variety of brands. However, when the pandemic left her stranded in New York City for months without any painting supplies, Melika decided to improvise. She decided to experiment realizing that a jar of Nutella that had been left behind by a roommate had a consistency comparable to paint. Before she realized it, she had started a body of work that attracted millions of views per video. Even though she eventually returned home and resumed using oil and acrylic paint in place of chocolate, she still enjoys experimenting and sharing her work online, producing intricate paintings that each tell a story or encourage viewers to reflect on their perceptions.
Her artwork combines minute details with profound thoughts and is frequently colorful. She finds relationships and connections between various things. She frequently prefers to create art by fusing or distorting photos she has shot and piecing them all together to resemble a puzzle.
After completing her art studies, she is now eager to return to Dubai and work on new pieces. Archival-grade signed copies of her paintings and photographs are now offered for sale on her website.
Melika says she enjoys experimenting with various mediums and art forms, including clay, chocolate, metal, sculpture, painting, spray painting, animation, video, photography, and printmaking. She can’t picture herself as an artist if she stuck to one style or medium. Melika says, “as artists we can get too caught up in trying to develop or maintain a certain ‘style’, but for me, at one point I decided that I care far more about deciding what I’m trying to say and how I want to say it, rather than sticking to a certain style.”
Melika acknowledges that, “there’re many artists who are very focused on one specific media and I think that’s great, but for me, I’m always interested in exploring different forms of art and conveying a concept.” She would claim that while she uses each medium somewhat differently, she frequently crosses across them.
She considers it an incredible honor to be able to explore the boundless possibilities of art. Her work has consistently drawn inspiration from Persian poetry, which influences a lot of her observations and general approach to art. Color also plays a significant role in her work. She is therefore frequently drawn to ideas about perception, connection, longing, belonging, and the “self.”
“I care far more about deciding what I’m trying to say and how I want to say it, rather than sticking to a certain style” .says Melika