A work of art must carry in itself its complete significance and impose it upon the beholder even before he can identify the subject matter.
—Henri Matisse, Notes of a Painter
Blocks are built into substantial, memorable Icons in any medium—it just takes repetition to do so.
All art, graphic design, and visual imagery grabs attention according to this primal law. Central imagery is the Block that immediately captures attention and holds it, imprinting any visual piece on the mind. It is the reason Manet and Gauguin, regardless of their talent, are not nearly as known or recognized as their contemporary Van Gogh. It’s the reason many of us immediately recognize the works of Andy Warhol. And it’s what lies behind the seemingly overnight success of modern fine artist and photographer Melanie Pullen.
In the mid-2000s, Melanie exploded out of obscurity to become a hugely collected and influential photographer. Melanie’s first show, High Fashion Crime Scenes, held at the Ace Gallery in Beverly Hills, resulted in international acclaim: a documentary, a book, a slew of popular press, and her work being coveted by the world’s most prominent and influential collectors. In 2018 Melanie’s work was invited into the exalted Getty Museum in Los Angeles as part of the exhibit Icons of Style: A Century of Fashion Photography, 1911–2011. She was one of the only living artists whose work was selected to be in the exhibition and one of her pieces has been added to the Getty’s permanent collection.
Melanie Pullen happens to be my childhood friend from the belly of L.A. (we go back long enough for me to know her father has long been a professional pool shark—his compatriots call him “Wayne the Train”). But our friendship has nothing to do with the reason I’m telling you about her.
What’s so fascinating is that Melanie had not been a working photographer before this meteoric success. Her work is based off cinematic recreations of 1930s murder scenes remade with high-fashion models and couture clothing. Inspired by LAPD and NYPD crime scene files, photo after photo shows beautiful women floating in midair, or a femme fatale splayed out lifelessly on the cold marble of a Metro station or abandoned along a pier. Each is a dark and beautiful setting filled with a model convincingly feigning death. You instantly understand each image in a fraction of a second. It wasn’t the clothes, or the salacious subject matter, or the Gatsbyesque flair of her work that made the photos, or Melanie, famous. Pullen isn’t after shock value: “An observer needs to see an image repeated in a similar form and style, at least three times, to get it,” she explains. It was the Block that got her seen, and generated instant demand.
Elegant and gruesome at the same time, her work is also notable for its massive physical size—Pullen’s prints usually range from four to ten feet in width. Why does she produce such large-format prints? “Because they are bold and have an impact on an audience,” she says.
Her second solo show, Violent Times, became the largest still-photography show ever held in the history of the western United States. The show was too big for Ace Gallery, her Beverly Hills rep and one of the most prestigious galleries in Los Angeles. So this show was held in the 78,800-square-foot Desmond Building on Wilshire Boulevard, taking up the entire city block. The opening was mobbed by over two thousand people.
Melanie’s work with Violent Times established her as one of the preeminent up-and-coming fine artists in the world. The massive show contained dozens of staggering cinematic images, some as much as eight feet high and twelve feet wide; the series is made up of four parts: Battle Scenes, Soldier Portraits, The Combat Soldiers (four of which appear on pages 112–117), and Biochemical Warfare. The series cemented her place as a darling of respected art collectors around the globe.
Acclaimed cinematographer Kramer Morgenthau, who directed photography on such films as Creed II, Thor: The Dark World, and Terminator Genisys, as well as dark and beautiful television shows like Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones, deeply admires Melanie, saying, “Her work is powerfully representational of the kind of iconic imagery you would see used in cinematography. Every one of her still photographs tells a story. Melanie is completely fearless. Her work has a confidence and strength. There is a boldness of color, of contrast and of content. It pops out of the frame and is uncompromising.”