May DeViney

Madonna of Eternal Drudgery

Acrylic on canvas over wood, found frame, 20 x 12”, $950

Painting of a Madonna figure holding modern-day housecleaning tools in an ornate Middle-eastern style frame

Madonna of the Launderette

34” x 15” x 3”, Acrylic on Canvas over Wood, Antique Frame, Metallic Cording, Cloth and Clothespins

SOLD

Painting of a Madonna figure using a 50s style wringer washing machine and standing in front of a Renaissance-styled courtyard, in a frame that has a clothesline hanging from it

Merry Maids

17"x21", acrylic on canvas over board, with lighted antique frame, $1,000

Painting of a group of seven haloed Madonna figures wearing classical dress and carrying housecleaning tools, walking happily across a cloud to work as a team

Noir Madonna

23 x 18 inches, Acrylic on canvas over wood, Antique radio cabinet,$1900.

Painting of a Madonna figure in a noir-styled mid-century movie poster. She is holding a smoking pistol and is surrounded by noir gangster figures

Madonna of Money

collage with foil leaf in antique frame, $475.

A collage on a found Victorian photo of a mother and baby, making the figures decorated by currency images and images from biblical stories of torment.

Our Lady of Perpetual Aggravation

Acrylic on canvas over wood, metal, plastic and cloth, 21 x 17 ½ x 2 “, $1,800

Painting of Madonna and child figures, showing the baby misbehaving by making a mess with a ketchup bottle and the Madonna shrieking in anger. Both have cracked haloes, showing their imperfection

The Virgin and Skippy with the Young St. John the Baptist

Acrylic on canvas over wood, Antique metal frame with electric lights, 14 x 12” (framed), $800

Painting of a Madonna figure as a ventriloquist, with the usual infant figure replaced by a ventriloquist’s dummy and being admired by the Infant St. John the Baptist.

May DeViney is an unrepentant Midwesterner, and remains so despite having lived in New York City, Brooklyn, southern Florida and in Massachusetts for nearly 20 years. She attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she absorbed the influences of the Chicago Imagists and iconoclastic art movements such as the Hairy Who. She left school early to study independently at workshops, seminars and classes under several prominent artists, most recently at the School of the
Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

She has traveled throughout the United States and internationally. The experiences she has gained and her trenchant observations on the human condition are reflected in her work.

She began as a painter in oils and acrylics and her paintings have won awards in regional shows and in national competitions. But in recent years she has turned to mixed media constructions, which frequently incorporate paintings and found elements built into three-dimensional multi-media wall pieces and sculpture. These constructions exhibit a flavor of H.C. Westermann and Grant Wood combined with the styles of Renaissance historical and religious art. Her work has been included in juried shows at the regional and national levels and has been included in national publications.

She has remained a lifelong feminist, active in women’s’ rights organizations, and for several years has contributed art and design work to the Walk for Women’s Lives, a fundraising effort for domestic abuse shelters in the Concord, Massachusetts area. Feminist social commentary as well as church-state separation issues are some of the most recent concerns expressed in her work.

May De Viney

May DeViney