Rain in the West

Additional Information

Provenance:

Private collection, Arizona

No other artist is embedded in the mythos and culture of Arizona as deeply as Ed Mell. Mell was born in Arizona and, except for a period in New York City when he worked for a top advertising agency, he lived his entire life in the Grand Canyon State. His work has appeared on the cover of Arizona Highways and Western Art Collector magazines and was featured on Arizona’s Centennial stamp in 2012. His monumental sculpture, Jack Knife, still serves as the center of the Scottsdale Arts District.

Mell is known today for his abstracted landscapes of the Southwest, but his work was more representational when he started his career in the 1970s. As Ed traveled Arizona, sometimes by helicopter with legendary newscaster Jerry Foster, he began to gravitate toward the unique light and forms that the desert offered. Mell was a true artist who loved nothing more than to be in his studio in front of his easel creating art. Later in his career, he loved to make up his compositions completely from his own imagination and let his true artistry take over. In these works, Mell interpreted desert thunderstorms, dry river valleys, monolithic rock formations and of course cloud-filled skies through his geometrical and abstract approach of viewing nature.

Our 2025 online auction includes an untitled classic Mell landscape which represents his more realist approach to paintings. Well-defined mesas are carved against a dramatic cloudscape that even at its small size, 12 x 18,” resonates with the beauty of the natural world. We have estimated this untitled painting at $10,000-$15,000. Orange Range, at 30 x 84,” is one of the largest paintings by Mell ever to come to auction and depicts the mesas and vistas of northern Arizona.

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DISCLAIMER

Please note that the first unframed photo is most accurate for color. Framed photographs are to show the frame and are not color corrected to the painting.

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