Crimson red is the first thing you see. Not decorative, not incidental. In Mel Quintana's oil paintings, that color carries weight. Religious symbolism and canines appear throughout her work, two things she identifies with deeply, rendered with a painterly richness that makes the canvas feel inhabited. Cuban-American, working primarily in oils, her work holds faith and loyalty and something unresolvable in the same frame. Launched by Marcolina's in the Venus Rising exhibition in 2024. One of the most distinctive voices in the emerging roster.