Richard Mayhew

“Many of my so-called landscapes are very abstract because they are very free-form; I am involved with the spiritual feeling of space.  Just to work with figures would be very limiting because that would identify a particular place or situation.  The paintings look like landscapes but that is not necessarily my preoccupation in painting.”

In trying to understand the source of Richard Mayhew’s artistic gift, we acknowledge several sources: a grandmother who instilled in him a reverence for land and sea and the sense that he had unlimited potential; his pride in his African-American and Long Island Shinnecock Indian heritage; the fact that his ancestors were involved in the Underground Railroad; an involvement with the Spiral Group, organized by fellow socially conscious Black artists trying to make advances during the civil rights movement; his love of music, jazz in particular; and the time spent traveling the country observing the ever-changing landscape, from his native Amityville, a small hamlet on Long Island, to his adopted California. 

His biography reads like this: formal education at four schools; he has lived in numerous cites in the U.S. and Europe; has taught at several universities; has initiated innovative art programs in a number of places, he has received numerous honors; and there is a long list of collectors both private and institutional.

Richard Mayhew is an independent artist whose work sums up his wide-ranging experiences.