16 artists reflect on pioneering painter Richard Mayhew

Black Art in America gallery pays tribute to the centenarian artist by pairing his work with pieces by artists responding to it

“Summation” by Richard Mayhew in Black Art in America's exhibition "Landscapes for Richard Mayhew." One of Mayhew’s signature print works, “Summation” represents the increasingly acidic palette the painter deployed as his career progressed.

By Cinque Hicks – ArtsATL

May 15, 2024

This year, pioneering landscape painter Richard Mayhew became a centenarian. That means he was born a year before Malcolm X and has been painting since about the time Dwight D. Eisenhower was in the White House. Mayhew is still working today and recently had a resurgence in popularity with a high-profile exhibition at the new Venus Over Manhattan space on Great Jones Street in New York and the survey ”Richard Mayhew: Inner Terrain” at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art in Sonoma, California.

Over the course of a seven-decade career, Mayhew has tapped his African American and Native American ancestry to bring a personal brand of colorism to a subject matter — the American landscape — that has not been dominant in art since the Hudson River School of the mid-19th century. Nevertheless, Mayhew’s ability to use color as an emotional barometer of American soil soaked in Black and Indigenous blood has made him a leading practitioner of the form.

“Untitled,” Richard Mayhew, watercolor on paper. Mayhew has called his works “mindscapes” as opposed to landscapes, emphasizing the extent to which he views his works as personal explorations of space and color.

In ”Landscapes for Richard Mayhew” on view at Black Art in America in East Point through Saturday, May 18, curator Faron Manuel has set five original Mayhew paintings and prints in the context of works by 16 other artists responding to Mayhew’s work either in form, content or both. Artists include Curlee Raven Holton, Ted Ellis, Lillian Blades, Freddie Styles, Michi Meko, Emma Amos and more.

A few highlights from the show appear below.

"Desert Serenade,” Richard Mayhew, oil on canvas.

"Summation Mayhew Homage,” Lillian Blades, mixed media assemblage on wood panel. This homage channels Mayhew’s color palette and evocation of space in Blades' vernacular of collected bits and pieces pulsing with glowing inner light.

"Abstracting the Abstract,” Najjar Abdul Musawwir. The show contains oblique takes on the landscape tradition.

"Quiet Time #8,” Mason Archie, oil on linen. Archie’s work reflects something of Mayhew’s personalized sense of color interpretation.

"Decaying World,” Larry Jerome, wood and metal.

“Atascadero,” Richard Mayhew, hand-pulled silkscreen.

"Maestro Mayhew II,” Curlee Raven Holton, watercolor and ink on paper. A clever reference documenting both Mayhew’s creation of the “Atascadero” print and Holton’s longstanding friendship and collaboration with the painter.

“Loner,” Michi Meko, acrylic, aerosol, oil pastel on paper. Meko continues his meditations on water, buoys and family identity.

ART PREVIEW

“Landscapes for Richard Mayhew”

At Black Art in America through Saturday, May 18. 11 a.m.- 6 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. 1802 Connally Drive, East Point. 404-565-1493, blackartinamerica.com