Richard Mayhew: Transcendence at Ringling College

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25 Mar, 2021

"Untitled" (2013) (Oil on canvas) [36"x58"] 
(Note: on an orange wall) 
Transcendence. The word itself has a sense of calm and other worldliness about it. It's the perfect title for an exhibit (and a recently published monograph) featuring the work of Richard Mayhew. 

Images of Mayhew's work, though stunning, do not recreate the experience of gazing directly into one of his paintings. As I looked, my perceptions constantly changed as I noticed new details or focused on a different area of the painting. More important than what I saw, though, is the feeling his work gave me at my core. Even paintings that initially seemed somewhat turbulent drew me in and left me with a sense of serenity hard to come by in the last year. But I've gotten ahead of myself. 

"Desire" (2019) (Oil on canvas)[36"x48"]
Richard Mayhew is a 97-year old artist who continues to make art every day. What a life this man has led. Mayhew first realized his interest in art as a kid watching summer visitors paint the shoreline of his town on the South Shore of Long Island. His father was a sign painter, so he grabbed some of his dad's materials and set up alongside the artists to see what he could do. By the age of 14, one of the artists had taken him under his wing, teaching him the fundamentals. 

Mayhew pursued his artistic dream from that time on, but he had to make a living in other ways until his talent was recognized. He joined the military during WWII and rose to a first sergeant in the marines. He practiced his art even then, delighting the troops with painted images of pin-up girls on tanks. In the 1950s, he worked as a jazz singer in small clubs in New York City and the Borscht Belt in the Catskill Mountains. When his first solo show in 1955 was well-received, he turned off his microphone to focus solely on his art. 

"Above and Beyond" (2009) (oil on canvas)
[48"x48"]
Throughout his career, Mayhew has been drawn to nature as his inspiration. Mayhew's heritage explains in part the hold the natural world has on him. His father was African-American and Shinnecock while his mother was African-American and Cherokee. From a young age, his paternal grandmother taught him about Native Americans' relationship to the natural world and its spirits. And so, for Mayhew, nature is more than just a walk in the park and some fresh air.

This focus has led many to categorize him as a landscape artist. But Mayhew's own view of his work is more complex. In an interview last year with Hyperallergic, he said, "What I do with landscapes is internalize my emotional interpretation of desire, hope, fear and love. So, instead of a landscape, it's a mindscape." 

Mayhew's painting style is consistent with this philosophy. He doesn't work en plein air or create a sketch before picking up his paintbrush. Instead, he said, "When I start painting, I just smear paint on the canvas, for no reason at all. It just gets me started. After I do that, a certain feeling starts to take place and I go with it. So, there's no planning in the beginning...it happens on the canvas. It's that moment of truth." This is a man comfortable with improvisation.

"Mendocino Series #10" (2015) 
(watercolor on paper) [11"x14"]
Mayhew's collective work includes more than the mindscapes for which he's best known. He has painted portraits and illustrated medicals books and children's books on science and history. He has also shared his love of art as an educator. For 30 years, Mayhew taught at institutions as varied as the Brooklyn Museum School of Art (where he also studied), Smith College and Penn State. 

In the 1960s, Mayhew was a founding member of SPIRAL, an African-American artist collective whose other members included Romare Bearden. The 13 men and one woman organized to discuss the role of African-American artists in the civil rights movement and the larger world. 

"Untitled, ca" (2004-2008) (oil on canvas)[48"x60"]
Unlike the work of the other SPIRAL artists, Mayhew's art does not strike viewers as political. In fact, when the Tate Museum featured the work of SPIRAL artists in its 2017 exhibition Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, Mayhew was not included. His work didn't fit neatly into the narrative of the exhibit. But to the artist, his mindscapes have a political aspect as they are inextricably woven with the history of African-Americans and Native Americans to the land. "Their blood is in the soil," he has said. (Note: Mayhew's work was added to the exhibit when it  toured the United States.)

Whether a landscape or a mindscape, political or not, Mayhew's paintings made a significant impact of this viewer. He's an artist whose work I will seek out in the future. Kudos to Ringling College and Chief Curator Tim Jaeger for bringing Richard Mayhew: Transcendence to Sarasota. To learn more about Mayhew and his work, click here or here. To learn more about SPIRAL, click here. Sadly, the exhibit closes this Friday so there's no opportunity for a second visit. I (and you) can, however, see the exhibit online on the College's website by clicking here. Happy viewing. 

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