Art Inspiration >> We have been following artist Mary Weatherford for a few years now. The first time I saw her paintings was during a trip to New York City in 2014. We visited The Museum of Modern Art. I believe it might have been the Coney Island ll, 2012 canvas that stuck out in my mind which was her breakthrough year according to articles when she incorporated a series of paintings that had the element of neon in them.
Coney Island ll 2012, Fashe and Neon on Linen - 103" x 83" image from MOMA
Her incorporation of sculptural elements like colored neon over brushed and sponged paint on linen canvases feel surreal as they have been tagged like graffiti on the street. These paintings are deceptively effortless looking at the bright palette of color is spread across the canvas in large swooping motion but this process is incredibly physical as the are the movements of Mary's body making the final strokes you see below.
Butterfly 2017, Fashe and Neon on Linen - 117" x 234" photo by Fredrik Nilson
Mary Weatherford (born 1963) is a Los Angeles based painter.
Weatherford was born in Ojai, California and raised in Los Angeles. She studied visual arts and art history at Princeton University graduating in 1984. After graduation, she lived and worked in New York where in 1985 she was a Helena Rubinstein Fellow in the Independent Study Program of the Whitney Museum of American Art. She returned to Southern California in 1999 and later received an M.F.A from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College. Early in her career she collaborated with her late sister, the writer Margaret Weatherford, on performance art and worked as a bookkeeper for the artist Mike Kelley.
Lovely Day 2013, Flashe and Neon on Linen - 99" x 112"
Truxon Ave 2012, The Bakersfield Project
Athena 2018, Flashe and Neon on Linen 107" x 114", photo by Fredrik Nilson