I like to make paintings that are disturbing in terms of content and visually appealing on a formal level… I’m interested in representing the impulses and feelings we keep hidden from ourselves.Mary DeVincentis
In Circle Game, Mary DeVincentis presents a body of work that traverses the boundaries between inner world and outer cosmos, myth and memory, fear and desire. Known for her mystical, emotionally resonant imagery, DeVincentis draws from Buddhist philosophy, human psychology, folklore, and personal experience to create dreamlike paintings that seem to exist outside linear time.
Her compositions are teeming with symbolic motifs—pagan figures, botanical forms, swirling spirits—and are rendered with a fluidity that makes each canvas feel like a breathing organism. Themes of suffering, transformation, and hidden emotion thread through her work, often surfacing as allegorical forms. These images do not impose clear narratives but instead evoke complex emotional states, prompting viewers to confront their own internal landscapes.
DeVincentis refers to painting as a visceral process—"related to skin, guts, blood, minerals, plants, and stardust." Her goal is to balance visual seduction with thematic disturbance, creating a tension that resonates at both a subconscious and formal level. She delves into the stories we tell about ourselves and others, understanding them as containers for our desires, wounds, and projections.
With Circle Game, the artist invites us to escape into—and reflect within—realms where beauty and danger coexist, and where the mysteries of human experience unfold in layered and unexpected ways.
