Mary DeVincentis Solo Show

Animals, often depicted with the female figures in Mary's work, appear as compassionate companions and as vessels for complex emotional states. Women appear, often seeming joyful but also distressed, in roles that include the heroic, the villainous, and the divine; figures either penitent or defiant, akin to Mary Magdalenes and ascending Ophelias who are neither angelic nor seductive but redeemed, perhaps from the victimizations of patriarchy. In one such painting, a woman psychic reads the circular Motherpeace tarot card deck, symbolic of the empowerment of women through the exploration of their spirituality and creative potential. 

The selection of paintings in Walking with Ghosts centers around the themes of the 12th-century Persian poem The Conference of the Birds by Attar of Nishapur, referenced in Mary's painting Consolation of the Birds. The show metaphorically moves through seven symbolic stages, as do the birds in the epic poem. In the verses, each bird acts as a representational allegory of a human fault. In their quest to reach enlightenment, each must individually but as a whole, cross seven valleys: Love, Knowledge, Detachment, Unity, Wonderment, Poverty, and Annihilation, bringing the seeker/viewer through a journey into a space where both the past and the future exist in the timeless now.

Painter Mary DeVincentis employs a deeply personal iconography to investigate the dilemmas and mysteries of existence. Her paintings depict people, animals, and elements of nature as equal in significance and numinosity. Her 2021 solo exhibition, Alone in This Together, at M. David and Co. in NYC, was inspired by our heightened awareness of mortality during the past two years of pandemic living. Previous solo exhibitions include Out There, also at M. David and Co. in 2019, and Dwellers on the Threshold at David and Schweitzer Contemporary in 2018. On-going series include Dark Matters, paintings which investigate the shadowy side of human experience, and Sin Eaters, works which depict society's saints, martyrs, scapegoats, and outcasts. DeVincentis earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Maryland Institute College of Art and was awarded a Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Printmaking from St. Martin's College of Art in London, UK. Her work has been exhibited internationally and is represented in many public and private collections. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.