Ed Mell was born in Phoenix, studied in Los Angeles and worked for an ad agency in New York before opening his own studio. But in 1970, Mell took a position teaching art on the Hopi Reservation. There, he forged a strong connection with the landscape of his home state and began to paint in what would become his signature style—finding and releasing the geometries of the natural world into art. His works can be found in numerous public, corporate, and private collections. In a painting like Quiet Distance, Mell offsets the verticality of the canvas against strong horizontals in the rocks and the lower, darker clouds. However, the vertical rocks in the foreground, reaching up to the ragged clouds reaching down, veil the expansiveness. The eye, you might say, is inspired to move around the spired butte to take in more of the scene.

-James D. Balestrieri