Born in October 15, 1923, in Buenos Aires, Juan Nicolás Melé began his studies at the Escuela de Bellas Artes Manuel Belgrano –a schoolmate of Gregorio Vardanega and Tomás Maldonado– and the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes Prilidiano Pueyrredon. Soon after graduating as a professor, Melé approached the Asociación Arte Concreto-Invención, a group integrated by Alfredo Hlito, Lidy Prati, Manuel Espinosa, Enio Iommi, the Lozza brothers, Tomás Maldonado, among others, and participated in the third exhibition in October 1946.

In 1948/49 he lived in Paris where he studied at L'École du Louvre , subsequently having exhibitions in Italy, where he met the members of the Concrete Group of Milan. In Switzerland he met Max Bill and, in the Parisian milieu he got acquainted with Michel Seuphor, Georges Vantongerloo, Sonia Delaunay, Antoine Pevsner, and other artists and intellectuals working within the Concrete tendency.He exhibited at the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles and at the Maison de l'Amerique Latine in 1948-49 returning to Argentina in 1950. His works formed part of the Argentine representation to the II Biennial International Exhibition of San Pablo (1953). In 1955 he became a member of the Asociación Arte Nuevo (New Art Association).He settled in New York in 1974, where he continued with his work exhibiting exhibitions at the Cayman Gallery (1978) and the Arch Gallery (1983/5). In 1981 he had an exhibition at the Museo Eduardo Sivori, Buenos Aires, and returned to Argentina in 1986, where he had an individual exhibition at the Museo de Arte Moderno the following year. Since 1990 onwards he lived partly in Buenos Aires and partly in Paris participating in numerous international exhibits.  He died in Buenos Aires on March 29th 2012.