Introducing... The witty sculptural works and digital experiments of Mel Win

Date
17 July 2012

Continuing our new feature of young creative types is Minneapolis resident Mel Win (Nguyen) a multidisciplinary artist with an incredibly engaging portfolio.

Mel’s work is wonderfully ambitious in its scope, encompassing a broad range of disciplines, from graphic design and illustration to fine art installation and experiential objects. She shifts comfortably from reimagined book covers to witty 3D objects all the while offering food for thought by virtue of considered visual interplay between elements (see Grids and Frames). She also segues happily between the physical and digital realms, always utilising the qualities inherent to her medium of choice; her 3D objects are overtly tactile, while her digital work makes constant reference to the nuances of photoshop and the glitchy pixellation of a malfunctioning web-browser.

All in all this is one incredibly talented young practitioner. But enough background from us, here’s what she has to say for herself.

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Introducing: Mel Win, Grids/Frames

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Introducing: Mel Win, Grids/Frames

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Introducing: Mel Win, Grids/Frames

Where do you work?

I am currently interning at Hot Sundae (Nicole Killian and Amelia Irwin). Otherwise I’ll be in my personal studio making work.

How does your working day start?

I always start with drowsy email and blog reading with tea. I bike to Nicole’s on internship days since she works pretty close to me, and our day usually starts with greeting her ferret. Biking and seeing her ferret always wakes me right up.

How do you work and how has that changed?

In my personal studio process I’m usually triggered by materials that I want to use, or when ideas of subverting a tool (such as a scanner) or format (such as a book) come to mind. I collect objects and write lots of lists, so I have a library of materials and ideas to work from later. When I start a project, I rationalise my decisions through some writing and make a ‘written mood board’. Any steps after this are different for each project, since I jump around media.  Instead of declaring that my process has changed, I will say that the more I make, the more ‘finished’ experiments I have collected that will contribute to new ones. I see it as a series of connected trials. I am new, learning, and just getting started.

Would you intern for yourself?

No. I benefit most from gathering other opinions and observing other processes, so I need to be around other people every now and then. I experiment plenty alone, but again – I really like collecting. 

Where would we find you when you’re not at work?

Eating ice cream, drinking bubble tea, or staring at bunnies somewhere in Minneapolis. There are usually two bunnies hanging out in front of my apartment that I enjoy.

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Introducing: Mel Win, Reflection Shanty (with Jenny Bookler, Katy Vonk, Eric Frye, and Brian Nigus)

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Introducing: Mel Win, Reflection Shanty (with Jenny Bookler, Katy Vonk, Eric Frye, and Brian Nigus)

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Introducing: Mel Win, Reflection Shanty (with Jenny Bookler, Katy Vonk, Eric Frye, and Brian Nigus)

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Introducing: Mel Win, Reflection Shanty Process (with Jenny Bookler, Katy Vonk, Eric Frye, and Brian Nigus)

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Introducing: Mel Win, Rethink

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Introducing: Mel Win, Rethink (process)

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Further Info

About the Author

James Cartwright

James started out as an intern in 2011 and came back in summer of 2012 to work online and latterly as Print Editor, before leaving in May 2015.

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