MID-DAY

Navajo women with umbrellas. 
Louis De Mayo is a stylized painter of contemporary Indian figures, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1926 and living in Phoenix, Arizona, since 1973.  When a gallery owner suggested that De Mayo tell people he is Indian to facilitate sales, De Mayo asked whether "if I wanted to paint a horse, would I have to say I was part horse?"  His friend, Carl Gorman who was Navajo told him, "Louis, if people ask what tribe you're from, tell them you're Awoppaho."
Louis de Mayo has lived in the Southwestern United States for many years absorbing the rich spiritual heritage of the Native American cultures that inhabit the deserts, mesas and mountains. Arizona was the catalyst de Mayo used to express himself and the freedom he has always associated with art. He was able to capture the splendor and grandeur of Arizona where he was exposed to a magical beauty and wealth of imagery. From this emerged his distinctive style and vision of the world.Arizona artist Louis de Mayo (1926-2016) is a contemporary painter of the American Indian who uses very little detail to let the viewer’s imagination run. “The features in my figures are usually obscured and lack individual identity. They become generic, lost and out of place in contemporary landscapes. In contrast to the current mode of dress, they seem baroque; artifacts reminiscent of an age gone by when the world was not mechanized. Perhaps symbolic of the haunting disquiet that afflicts us all and will persist into the space age.”
A trailblazer in the realm of contemporary southwest art, De Mayo has been instrumental in pushing the envelope and abolishing the stereotypes of what the viewing public considers Southwestern. He utilizes dramatic color, the abstract, numbers and a bit of whimsy to enhance his images and message together with a bold, daring and controlled simplicity that fill his canvases. De Mayo is best known for his interpretation of the Native American spirit, however, in recent years, he has found a renewed passion in contemporary and realistic style.
Collections: The Smithsonian Museum, Scottsdale Museum, Museum Biedermann, Longview Museum and major private collections