, a solo exhibition of new works by Mary DeVincentis, opening May 21, 2025. This marks the artist’s second solo exhibition with the gallery and emerges as a poignant inquiry into the mythologies we inherit, the crises we navigate, and the spiritual intelligence we must cultivate in order to face a fragile world.
For DeVincentis, the garden is not merely a pastoral space but a layered metaphor for consciousness, cultural inheritance, and the fragile terrain of the human spirit. It is a symbolic site where memory, myth, and nature converge—where the acts of cultivation and neglect become emblematic of the choices we make collectively and individually. Her work engages the viewer in a contemplative dialogue that bridges classical sources with urgent contemporary concerns. Rather than offering fixed narratives or didactic symbolism, her paintings open up liminal spaces—thresholds—through which the viewer must move intuitively.
DeVincentis’s practice is informed by a long-standing interest in the psychological and archetypal dimensions of storytelling. Drawing upon a syncretic range of textual and visual traditions—from the poetic to the sacred, the ancient to the surreal—her work proposes alternative systems of meaning that transcend binaries and reassert the interconnectedness of all life. By revisiting mythologies often shaped through patriarchal frameworks, the artist reconfigures their internal logics, emphasizing autonomy, reciprocity, and embodied knowledge.
In place of linearity or moral resolution, her work operates within symbolic structures akin to dreams, rituals, and visual prayers. Viewers are asked not to decipher but to dwell within the spaces of uncertainty and reflection her images provide. Through the orchestration of intuitive composition, color, and gesture, DeVincentis creates portals for seeing otherwise—offering glimpses into a sacred ecology where myth and psyche, history and present time, spirit and matter are not oppositional but inextricably linked.
The exhibition’s temporal frame—seven months of intense creation—coincides with a period of escalating global tension and spiritual reckoning. Within this context, Know Your Garden functions as a quiet manifesto for inner and outer transformation. Rather than offering prescriptive answers, the exhibition gestures toward the enduring presence of ancient wisdoms buried beneath dominant cultural narratives. It affirms the necessity of cultivating presence over mere survival and proposes that visual art holds the potential to rekindle a relationship with the sacred—one that is not rooted in dogma, but in intimacy, embodiment, and relational awareness.
“Our stories—whether mythic, ancestral, or deeply personal—are how we come to know ourselves,” as DeVincentis has written. In Know Your Garden, storytelling becomes a tool for self-inquiry and healing, and painting becomes a form of knowledge-making. What emerges is a visionary language—rooted in symbolic depth and quiet urgency—that speaks to the evolving relationship between the inner world and the collective soul.
It is with deep gratitude that we celebrate Tappeto Volante’s fourth anniversary through the work of Mary DeVincentis, an artist whose vision so fully embodies the spirit of reflection, resilience, and transformation that defines our mission. This exhibition is a meaningful chapter in our journey as a space committed to fostering art. We warmly invite our community—friends old and new—to join us in honoring this occasion and sharing in the joy of this resonant moment.
Painter Mary DeVincentis employs a deeply excavated iconography to investigate the dilemmas and mysteries of existence. Her paintings depict people, animals, and elements of nature as equal in significance and sentience, each with motivational concerns and emotions, creating visual narratives that are multidimensional and open-ended in character. Her most recent solo exhibitions include Circle Game at Andrea Festa Fine Art in Rome in February 2024 and Wild Awake at Freight and Volume Gallery in October 2023. Her 2022 solo exhibition, Walking with Ghosts at Tappeto Volante Projects, was reviewed in the January 2023 edition of Artforum. Previous NYC solo exhibits include Alone in This Together at M. David and Co., Out There, also at M. David and Co., and Dwellers on the Threshold at David & Schweitzer Contemporary. 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. Her work has been exhibited internationally and is represented in many public and private collections. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
