“Silent Interface: James Ratliff Gallery

SEDONA, Ariz. - Sept. 16, 2015 - PRLog -- “Silent Interface”, new works by Louis De Mayo, opens Friday, November 6, and continues through November 19, at James Ratliff Gallery, Hillside Sedona, 671 State Route 179, Suites A1 & A-2, Sedona, AZ.  There will be an opening reception from 5 – 8 PM Friday, November 6.  The artist will be present.

Louis De Mayo embodies Frank Sinatra’s “My Way”.  Born in 1926 in Philadelphia, De Mayo is a first generation Italian-American. He was raised in the same neighborhood that produced Mario Lanza and Frankie Avalon.  "If you spit," he claims, "you would hit a singer."

This wry sense of humor along with his strong sense of traditional values and the American Way prompted De Mayo to serve in the Marines during World War II.  He then studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts under the G.I. Bill,  De Mayo went on to complete a series of commercial art jobs when an offer to become Art Director for Arizona Highways magazine brought him to Phoenix, Arizona.  Since 1973, De Mayo’s home became Arizona.  Dissatisfied with having “a job”, De Mayo soon quit, establishing himself as a full-time artist.  Continuing with the “My Way” theme, De Mayo frankly admits:  "I really have only one regret about leaving Philadelphia and that is that I didn't leave it sooner.”

In Arizona, De Mayo chose to exclusively produce contemporary paintings of Native Americans.  He states:  “I choose Indians to paint because of their dramatic quality and their manner of dress," he states.  "I had a strong emotional attraction to the Yaqui and their black garb.  Maybe it's because I grew up seeing women in black.  My people are all dark skinned.”

Continuing, De Mayo states:  “I don't wantto make too much of a racial issue in my work, but it certainly could stem from such roots.  I look at life as if it were a big slow-moving steamroller.  It gives you a helluva lot of time to get out of the way if you fall down, but if you just want to lie there, it is going to roll right over you."

Louis De Mayo is incompatible with a steamroller.  At 90, he’s still going strong, presently preparing for his exhibition opening Friday, November 6, at the James Ratliff Gallery in Sedona, Arizona.  Ratliff states:  “I have known him for 40 years, representing him for 30 years.  Louis De Mayo certainly is in the forefront regarding artistic talent.  In my 50 years in the gallery business, which has involved watching and representing many fine artists, De Mayo continually captures my attention with his unique ability to very successfully break the rules of art.  De Mayo’s remarkable abilities with color and composition are unprecedented.  He portrays his  subject with astonishing simplicity creating meaningful art works of lasting value.”

Rapport with popular Native American artists soon developed. De Mayo recalls:  “When a gallery owner suggested that De Mayo tell people he is Indian to facilitate sales, De Mayo asked whether "if I wanted to paint a horse, would I have to say I was part horse?"  His friend, Carl Gorman who is Navajo, told him, "Louis, if people ask what tribe you're from, tell them you're Awoppaho."

De Mayo paints images from many Southwest tribes. De Mayo has lived in the Southwestern United States for many years absorbing the rich spiritual heritage of the Native American cultures that inhabit the deserts, mesas and mountains.  Arizona was the catalyst De Mayo used to express himself and the freedom he has always associated with art. He was able to capture the splendor and grandeur of Arizona where he was exposed to a magical beauty and wealth of imagery. From this emerged his distinctive style and vision of the world.

As a contemporary painter of the American Indianwho uses very little detail to let the viewer’s imagination run, De Mayo explains: “The features in my figures are usually obscured and lack individual identity. They become generic, lost and out of place in contemporary landscapes. In contrast to the current mode of dress, they seem baroque.”

A trailblazer in the realm of contemporary southwest art, De Mayo has been instrumental in pushing the envelope and abolishing the stereotypes of what the viewing public considers Southwestern. He utilizes dramatic color, the abstract, numbers and a bit of whimsy to enhance his images and message together with a bold, daring and controlled simplicity that fill his canvases.  De Mayo is best known for his interpretation of the Native American spirit, however, in recent years, he has found a renewed passion in contemporary and realistic style.

De Mayo’s work  is in the collections of: Smithsonian, Museum Biedermann, Longview Museum, Scottsdale Museum,  Both the Robb Report and Southwest Art have featured De Mayo’s work.  Contemporary philosopher, Charles Taylor, writes about “the culture of authenticity” and in so doing, brings us to understand Louis De Mayo’s life and work “my way”.  David Brooks has recently included this priority in The Road to Character as he writes:  “As Taylor puts it, “There is a certain way of being that is my way.  I am called to live my life in this way and not in imitation of anyone else’s. . .If I am not, I miss the point of my life.  I miss what being human is for me.”  To understand and appreciate De Mayo’s work, it is imperative to understand his life’s choices.

For further information, contact the James Ratliff Gallery:  928-282-1404, e-mail:  FineArt@jamesratliffgallery.com, visit www.jamesratliffgallery.com.