Mary DeVincentis

Artist’s Statement

Very early on, I got interested in the meta-themes of life. Why are we here? How do we create meaning and purpose? I grew up in the suburbs of a typical American town. All manner of trauma happened in my home and in neighbors’ homes, beneath the prettified veneer of suburban life. So you see that contradiction reflected in a lot of my work. Society now moves at such a fast pace and demands that our attention be outward in focus. Time without external stimulation starts to feel threatening, as we attend less and less to our internal well being. Unclaimed, our shadowy aspects get projected outward onto the “other.” This is the theme of my series of paintings, Sin Eaters, which explores who or what volunteers or is volunteered to absorb or reflect these disowned aspects. This shadowy side is also addressed in this series, Dark Matters. I strive for a dynamic tension between form and content in my work. I appreciate seeing evidence of the artist’s physicality, their unique fingerprint, as evidenced in brush-stroke and mark making. Paint is kin to skin, viscera, blood, mineral, plant and stardust.

Mary DeVincentis is currently working on Dark Matters, a series of paintings which explores the shadow side of human experience, and Sin Eaters, a series which depicts society’s saints, martyrs, scapegoats and outcasts. Her work has been exhibited at Life on Mars Gallery, the International Print Center, the New York Public Library, White Columns, and the Brooklyn Museum. It is represented in numerous private and public collections. She received her BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art and a Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Printmaking from St. Martins College of Art in London, UK. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
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About Posit Editor

Susan Lewis (susanlewis.net) is the Editor-in-chief and founder of Posit (positjournal.com) and the author of ten books and chapbooks, including Zoom (winner of the Washington Prize), Heisenberg's Salon, This Visit, and State of the Union. Her poetry has appeared in anthologies such as Walkers in the City (Rain Taxi), They Said (Black Lawrence Press), and Resist Much, Obey Little (Dispatches/Spuyten Duyvil), as well as in journals such as Agni, Boston Review, The Brooklyn Rail, Conjunctions online, Diode, Interim, New American Writing, and VOLT.