Melissa Alford - deliciously dark and unconventionally beautiful.

Melissa’s work delves into haunting themes of devastation, despair, love, and heartbreak.  Although her art could be described as creepy – even disturbing – it often also brings with it a sense of irony, acceptance, and even perseverance.  In her exploration of the darkness we find that it is okay to feel anguish, to feel pain, even to allow ourselves to revel in the profound sublimity of these emotions.

 

Growing up, Melissa adored artists whose work had a sinister and often sarcastic edge.  Charles Addams, Hieronymus Bosch, M. C. Escher, and even Gary Larson were among her inspirations.  She filled her childhood days with drawing portraits and writing stories of the ghosts and demons who inhabited the shadows of her life.  In high school her enthusiasm for science, especially entomology and arthropods emerged and began crawling its way into her artwork, fiction and poetry.

 

After trying unsuccessfully for years to corral her passion into a conventional, steady life, Melissa finally gave in to her emotional wanderlust and left the beaten path for the shadows.  She then honed her craft at the Savannah College of Art and Design where she studied Sequential Art before adventuring into the wild.