April Exhibitions: A Ménage à Trois & Not Without Water

Frank “Chip” Mayes began painting in 1960 and is a painter of Oils, Acrylics, and Designers Gouache. He enrolled in college as an art major. Being one of the first graduating seniors from the University of West Florida, he founded the traditional Senior Portfolio Review and Show. Chip became well known in the Florida area and was supported by the community with patrons placing regular commissions. After graduating, he left for independent studies in Europe for an extended period of time. He has studied all over the world. Upon returning to the States, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and currently lives in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Not Without Water depicts the environments that could not exist without water. Surreal and abstract forests, bog plants, cypress knees, swamps, mythical caves, carp, lily pads, insects, and frogs—water is their source of life, just as it is ours. Reflected clouds on a pond surface, a meandering stream that courses underground, a hollowed cave—all are evidence of water’s complex and vital omnipresence. The recurring lines, shapes, and patterns observable in the plants and animals that thrive in or at water’s edge define Pier Hardin’s aesthetic sensibility, and hold her in thrall at the miraculous connectedness of nature. Pier’s paintings tend to put the viewer closer to the subject, and often have no horizon lines in sight. This magnified tete-a-tete with a pitcher plant or a frog swimming to the surface of a pond often results in an intimate point of view. The bold colors she chooses express extremes of darkness and light, frequently lending a surreal or fantastical mood to the subject matter. She uses organic line and careful placement to move the viewer’s eye intentionally about the compositions, just as water moves us with rhythm and fluidity. As a Mobilian, a proximity to water has profoundly shaped Pier’s understanding of beauty and mystery. She hopes that her oils and watercolors reveal a reverence toward the biodiverse world of nature that exists in Mobile’s estuary systems. These primordial places where tides meet streams continuously bind Pier in their spells.