Reminder! MoAD, Museum of the African Diaspora, and 2 other Bay Area museums, Museum of Art and History in Santa Cruz and de Saisset Museum in San Francisco, is showcasing a retrospective of abstract artist Richard Mayhew, who was born in Amityville, NY in 1924, and now resides in California.

Moad.mayhewportraitMayhew describes himself as “an improvisationalist.” when describing his work. He says that he uses “painting terms like expressionism only as reference point for others. They don’t understand improvisation…real, gut feeling, the act of improvising as the act of discovery. That’s abstract expression. That’s jazz.”

The exhibit will display “the best of Mayhew’s paintings that combine his unique style, philosophy for painting, and synthesis of artistic and social influences that set the trajectory of his artistic career… The MoAD exhibition will explore the personal and professional foundations of Mayhew’s style as a young man of African and Native American descent coming of age in New York during the 1950s explosion of Abstract Expressionist art.“

The Art of Richard Mayhew” until January 10, 2010

MoAD – The Museum of the African Diaspora

685 Mission Street San Francisco, CA