The Phoenix series included a number of Melchert’s most visually hypnotizing works. It was also a diverse body of work involving different rules and applications. Some of the massive pieces were assembled from up to 30 individually broken and glazed tiles, arranged in grids measuring 8 feet high. As he told a film crew at the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, “This series was named Phoenix because something good rises out of destruction. And there’s always hope in that. There is a Greek fable of a man named Antaeus. Whenever Antaeus was knocked down and touched the Earth (his mother), he got stronger. He was knocked down so often that he became invincible. Adversity can strengthen a person.”