Most artist studios are fascinating, but there was something electric in the air at the studio of longtime Phoenix painter Ed Mell. The painter kept great company with his array of art objects, paintings from the Southwest, Western curiosities and items related to Arizona. And then there were his own paintings on the easel, stacked against walls and filling shelves. All surfaces, even the ones far away from windows, were draped in Arizona sunlight.
Sky Flames (Scarlet Reflection I), 2022, oil on linen, 15 x 30 in. Mell, who died in 2024, kept a studio and gallery not far from downtown Phoenix. He was a creature of the city, and a son of the state, who embraced the local and regional art scene, including at the nearby Phoenix Art Museum, which has several of his works within the permanent collection. The museum is now honoring the artist with an exhibition, Ed Mell: In the Studio, opening November 28. It will examine Mell’s process as a painter and will feature many of the works that were still in his studio at the time of his death. It also celebrates Mell as an Arizona artist whose contributions to the Southwest are immense.
Ochre Clouds, 2007, oil on linen board, 8 x 10 in.
Evening Light, 2023, oil on linen, 30 x 30 in. “He was an incredible human being and incredible artist who loved this state and loved the art communities within it. Ed had an ability to communicate on a broad level, to capture all that the West embodies. He is also frequently the first artist you’re introduced to when you look at art of the West or Southwest. The magnitude of his career and his influence is felt today in younger generations,” says Jeremy Mikolajczak, the Sybil Harrington Director and Chief Executive Officer at the Phoenix Art Museum. “With Ed’s passing, he left a huge hole in the community and region. Our show will highlight his career but then take a unique look at him as a studio artist and his process. Many people haven’t seen the steps that Ed took to get to those big, finished paintings.”
The Gap (The Pass), 1977, oil on linen, 12 x 24 in.
String of Clouds, 1984, oil on linen, 15 x 30 in.
Olga Viso, the museum’s Selig Family Chief Curator, notes that in some circumstances the exhibition has four versions of a single painting, including drawings, pastels, watercolors, oil studies and medium-sized works made before the final oil painting. Viso points to the pastels and watercolors as pieces that the public hasn’t seen and notes that visitors will be surprised by the depth of the exhibition, which will have more than 80 works.
Untitled, oil on linen, 17 x 34 in.
Untitled, pastel, 6 x 11 in. “It was such a revelation to be in his studio after his passing and see all of the unframed studies stacked on shelves, and then to learn about his process. You can see how he would start with a subject, but then refine it as it progressed. He would enhance the outline around a mountain, or brighten the sunlight as it comes into a canyon, or shift the colors within a scene. Visitors will get to see these changes side by side in the exhibition,” Viso says. “We use material from Ed’s collection, but then I have also selectively borrowed works to help tell the stories of his process.”
Blue Lightning, 2022, oil on linen board, 10 x 20 in.
Viso also says that the work in the exhibition will emphasize the modern leanings of the artist, who was known to paint both realistically and intensely modern with heavy notes of abstraction. “These are some truly great examples of his modernist works, and they are much more abstract, with high-keyed color and angular, cubistic compositions. These pieces are going to be a revelation to our visitors,” she says. “It’s interesting that these were works he kept in his studio, even as he fluidly went back and forth between these pieces and more realistic paintings. He was an artist who was resolutely more modern, and you can see it because his heart was in these paintings.”
The exhibition will include personalized insight from Ken Richardson, longtime friend of the artist and director of the Ed Mell Gallery. The exhibition will also be the inaugural installation of the newly named James K. Ballinger Wing, which honors the director emeritus of the museum who served during a pivotal period in the instutition’s history. —
Ed Mell: In the Studio
November 28, 2025-
October 18, 2026
Phoenix Art Museum
1625 N. Central Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85004
(602) 257-1880, www.phxart.org
Powered by Froala Editor
