His bending of perspective around the subjects he paints within cluttered environments brings his work to life on canvas. Mel’s paintings’ have been collected by the Whitney and even the White House. A key note in what contributes to Mel’s notoriety is that he only paints with primary colors. In addition to painting, he also was an art professor at Mercer County Community College for over 40 years; starting in 1968 and retiring in 2013. One of his students was a graffiti artist by the name of RAS. A quote that Mel is most famous for is “everything is paintable.” Every one of his students have heard this saying--including RAS.