ALONG COMES MARY: Mary Finlayson

About

Navigating themes of home, memory, and self, her interest in painting interior spaces and still lifes portray how environments reveal identity.

Considering interiors as portraits that contain their own narratives, her compositions explore the stories that each space tells about the people who inhabit them. Flattening the perspective of each scene, her still lifes provide a voyeuristic glimpse in to each curated space while capsulizing the intimacy of each scene. Energetic lines evoke movement that helps enliven the otherwise stagnant settings and floral arrangements while reduced, simplified forms reveal a complexly structured, distinctive style.

In homage to the iconic works of David Hockney, Henri Matisse, and Stuart Davis, Finlayson borrows similar bright color palettes, repetitive patterns and simplified forms. Creating tightly constructed compositions unique to her own style, she combines her backgrounds in printmaking and painting to layer and contrast colors. The creative process includes immense attention to detail and meticulous planning around the composition as she considers personal attachments and importance of objects, the perspective of each scene, and the captured feeling of a space over accurate depiction. Creating environments that are partly real and partly imagined, Finlayson’s ability to craft a story by way of her art is enigmatic.