Mary O'Malley
Reviews, Links, etc.
boston pheonix review - The soft shock of the new
Classes taught by Mary O’Malley
Mary O'Malley teaches at the DeCordova Museum School in Lincoln, MA.
For information about classes and to register, please contact the DeCordova at 781-259-0505 or www.decordova.org
Contact Information
maryomalleyart@gmail.com
917-488-2289
Current/Upcoming Shows
to be announced
Mailing List
ultra-beauty
My work begins with a fascination with nature and natural processes in all its complexity and richness. My most recent body of work consists of tightly rendered ink drawings on paper, mostly using metallic inks on velvety black paper. This minimum palette helps to emphasize the complex detail and ornate patterning of the drawing. In the spirit of outsider and visionary artists, each mark is hand drawn using fine-point pens. I draw inspiration from the unpredictable and wild side of nature, combined with a hybrid of images from many sources- botanical illustration, natural and biomorphic forms, microscopic scientific imagery, ancient and modern decorative arts, architecture, and textile patterns. Flora and fauna, obsessive patterning and a Baroque sensibility come together to create a new world of hybrid chandeliers, curious bouquets, dense gardens and imagined landscapes. They exist somewhere between the wild irrationality of nature and the rigorous orderliness of lace patterns. I am interested in a beauty that is blatantly sensuous, unapologetically pretty, boldly decorative, and aggressively feminine. These pieces embody the spirit of a gaudy chandelier dripping with crystals and lights, a blinding, ridiculous beauty that attracts and repels.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2010 Super Natural, Sam Lee Gallery@The Pacific Design Center-Los Angeles, CA
2008 The Secret Garden Mazmanian Gallery, Framingham State University-Framingham, MA
2007 ultra-beauty Locco Ritoro Gallery-Boston, MA
2006 Curious Intimacies The Artists’ Foundation,-Boston, MA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2009 Boston Drawing Project 10th Anniversary Show Carroll & Sons Gallery-Boston, MA
2009 Economies of Scale Miller/Block Gallery-Boston, MA
2009 Backyard Sam Lee Gallery-Los Angeles, CA
2008 Drawn to Detail, DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA
2008 Overflow, Laconia Lofts Gallery, Boston, MA
2007 Nexus Sam Lee Gallery-Los Angeles, CA
2007 New Art Collective: Emerging Curators Select Montserrat College of Art Gallery-Beverly, MA
2007 Fourth Annual Juried Summer Exhibition Tufts University Art Gallery-Medford, MA
2007 Paper Bombs Jack Hanley Gallery-Los Angeles, CA
2007 Uncommon Denominator Trustman Gallery, Simmons College-Boston, MA
2007 OnLine: Massachusetts Cultural Council Award Recipients: Drawing/ Printmaking/ Artists’ Books Artspace-Maynard, MA
2006 White, Black and Shades of Gray South Shore Arts Center-Cohasset, MA
2006 Repetition: Negotiating the Irrationalities artspace@16 Gallery-Malden, MA
2005 Love Small artspace@16 Gallery-Malden, MA
2005 Landscapes: Found, Imagined and Constructed Visual Arts Gallery-New York, NY
2005 Sexual Gymnasium-MFA Fine Arts Thesis Show Visual Arts Gallery-New York, NY
Awards, Grants, etc.
2009 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grant
2009 Boston Art Awards, People’s Choice-Drawing
2008 Boston Art Awards, Critic’s Choice-Drawing
2007 Berverly Arts Council LLC Grant
2007 The Drawing Center Artist’s Registry-New York, NY
2006 Boston Drawing Project Flat Files-Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, MA
2006 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grant
2006 St. Botolph Club Foundation Grant-in-Aid Award
1995 Gamblin Painting Award, Massachusetts College of Art
Publications
2007 New American Paintings no. 68
2000 New American Paintings no. 26
Education
2005 Master of Fine Arts, Painting
School of Visual Arts-New York, NY
1997 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Painting
Massachusetts College of Art-Boston, MA