![Mary Lovelace O'Neal, Pleasing a Hummingbird Is a Difficult Precarious Composition a.k.a. Looking through Their Curtains, circa 1990s](https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/w_1600,h_1600,c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/artlogicstorage/jenkinsjohnsongallery/images/view/a9fa2811e89c0a5d4ce663eb9eb6f660j/jenkinsjohnsongallery-mary-lovelace-o-neal-pleasing-a-hummingbird-is-a-difficult-precarious-composition-a.k.a.-looking-through-their-curtains-circa-1990s.jpg)
Mary Lovelace O'Neal
Pleasing a Hummingbird Is a Difficult Precarious Composition a.k.a. Looking through Their Curtains, circa 1990s
mixed media on canvas
84 x 60 in (213.4 x 152.4 cm)
Copyright The Artist
Pleasing a Hummingbird is a Difficult Precarious Composition a.k.a. Looking Through Their Curtains painted circa the early 1990s by Mary Lovelace O’Neal is an important painting by one of the...
Pleasing a Hummingbird is a Difficult Precarious Composition a.k.a. Looking Through Their Curtains painted circa the early 1990s by Mary Lovelace O’Neal is an important painting by one of the greatest living American painters. Celebrated for her powerful compositions that employ vibrant hues and a generous and masterful application of paint, Mary Lovelace O’Neal has been a vital force since the 1970’s, known for her paintings that pair bold, monumental scale with layers of unexpected materials to explore deeply personal narratives and mythologies, as well as broader themes of racism, social justice and the environment. With roots in both Minimalist and Expressionist painting, her imagery varies between pure abstraction, narrative figuration, and the evocative spaces in between. Known for both painting and printmaking, her works have progressed through different phases over her long career, beginning with the more minimalist forms of the 70’s and evolving into precise and abstract patterns. Some of her paintings are influenced by the Civil Rights movement, tracing her activism to her relationship with former boyfriend Stokely Carmichael, who coined the terms “Black Power” and “Black Panther.” She incorporates references to this in her work through abstraction and use of the color black. Her early Lamblack series from the 1960’s employs a heavy black paint, making her canvases “as black as they could be,” alluding to their literal blackness and linking the abstraction as a way to “give voice to the intangible elements of the human spirit.” She continued her use of black paint into the 1990s, although employing a lighter paint and technique a seen in Pleasing a Hummingbird is a Difficult Precarious Composition a.k.a. Looking Through Their Curtains. Her use of black pigment functions as an obvious symbolism for the unfiltered exploration of racial politics in the United States. Mary makes a further point of her intentions through the titles of her artworks, stating, “My paintings and their titles speak for me. They’re not attitudes of despair; they just simply state a factual existence that continues.” Her paintings therefore, carry a sense of optimism despite their subject matter. Pleasing a Hummingbird is a Difficult Precarious Composition a.k.a. Looking Through Their Curtains portrays this push and pull of power dynamics, exploring a whimsical freedom through the illusion of movement. Pleasing a Hummingbird is a Difficult Precarious Composition a.k.a. Looking Through Their Curtains also shows layers of influence from her world travels throughout North and West Africa, apparent here in the representation of the architecture articulated in the painting. Allusions to exotic and mysterious places, darkened interiors, and twilight views glimpsed through windows abound in her works and brim with suggestive potential.