Metro Weekly

Melancholia at Gallery O on H

Marion Colomer's large-scale watercolors are accompanied by an original scent by perfumer Dana El Masri

Marion Colomer: Melancholia

For this immersive installation, artist Marion Colomer collaborated with New York-based perfumer Dana El Masri to create an original scent reflecting the melancholy of lost desire. With notes of green leaves and rainforest, the smell is of a lost paradise, an effluvia of dampness and decomposing soil.

The scent is intended to add a layer of sense to Colomer’s often contradictory large-scale watercolors on display, where beauty oscillates between daydreaming and doubt. Sometimes the artist portrays the Edenic lush jungle, while other times, an all-consuming and dangerous jungle of doom. Soft renderings of human bodies with glum expressions further paint a scene in which carnal desire and hope for humanity have faded from view. The installation is presented at an Atlas District gallery started by collectors Dolly Vehlow and Steve Hessler.

On display through Feb. 23. Gallery O on H, 1354 H St. NE. Call 202-649-0210 or visit GalleryOonH.com.

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