/UCWE/ The works of eminent artist and teacher Joe Mayer will be featured in a special show at Creatrics Gallery, on Goldsborough Street in Easton throughout the month of May. Mayer will be on hand at Creatrics for a reception during First Friday Gallery Walk on May 6.

The exhibit will feature new, nonobjective works in oil and mixed media by Mayer. Many of Mayer’s more representational works in watercolor will also complement the show.

"It is often the case that artists, over the years, move away from the literal and towards the abstract or nonobjective work," says Mayer.

"My paintings, created with mixed media, no longer present landscape scenes or objects that the viewer will readily recognize. The work instead is concerned more with relationships of line, value, shape color and texture. I think of it as music without lyrics."

Mayer’s painting process begins with creating visual chaos on the canvas and moves towards establishing order. His extensive training in applying formal rules of composition comes into play only after he has allowed himself to experience a period of completely intuitive action.

"I begin a procedure that requires both adding to and excavating the surface in search of visual equilibrium—a balance that reaches in the psyche of the viewer."

"My paintings are metaphors that reveal my search for personal trueness. If they function only as technically adequate abstract compositions without metaphor, then I have failed." It is the spiritual and emotional qualities of the paintings that intrigue Mayer and his viewer.

In addition to his works represented at Creatrics Gallery in Easton, Mayer has exhibited at the Corcoran, the Baltimore Museum of Art, Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, The Cultural Center (Bargemon, France), and the Maryland State House. Meet Mayer on May 6 at Creatrics or stop by and experience the colors of Joe Mayer in Easton on Goldsborough Street. Call 410-822-7924 or visit creatrics.com for more info.