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Lucy Maki, Aegis Major, oil and mixed media on canvas, 60 x 45", 1997

RECURRENT PATTERNS: LINDA DURHAM CONTEMPORARY ART MAIN ST., GALISTEO aegis: figuratively, any power or influence which protects or shields -Webster's dictionary Before Recurrent Patterns, Lucy Maki's last exhibit at Linda Durham Contemporary Art was in 1994. In that memorable show, Maki's mixed-media paintings comprised disparate, but ultimately unified, layers of visual information: photography, text, geometric abstractions, arcane symbolism, the use of the figure in a strange and wonderfully poetic way, and sculptural elements juxtaposed to flat surfaces. The work was a brilliant synthesis of styles and media

infused with mystical overtones that reverberated from the center of Maki's complex and authentic vision, spiritual in nature but sensual in execution. In her current exhibition, Maki seems to have taken a step back from the weight of her metaphysical longings toward the relatively safe haven of geometric abstraction, the type of painting with which Maki has primarily established her reputation. Although these new works are tasteful and elegant, they feel constrained in their ambitions. Maki hasn't forsaken her desire to render mystical experience, but she narrows the scope of its visual representation. Instead of taking risks as she did in 1994--particularly with her use of ancient symbols and photo-based manipulations of the figure -- Maki relies on familiar shapes: circles, rectangles, ellipses, squares, and triangles. It's as if geometry has become a protective veil for Maki, a screen behind which to hide her penchant for complexity. In this new work, there is the symbol of a three-dimensional shield that pokes out from some of Maki's canvases like a stylized, golden breast. It finds its most resonant expression. in Aegis Major, where it occurs six times. The history of the word aegis is interesting and complicated. Originally it meant a shield that Zeus wore; later it became identified with Pallas Athena but was transformed from a simple shield to a complex and hideous talisman - Athena's breastplate was the head of Medusa fringed with wicked-looking serpents. My interpretation of Athena's aegis is that it balanced the classically perfect proportions of Greek idealism with a dose of the wild and the crude. Philosophic virtue became tempered by aesthetic risk. It is this latter quality I miss in Recurrent Patterns, because I know it's also in Maki's artistic nature to project herself to the edge of the unknown and, without making a false move, realize her rapturous visions about the "consciousness of the angel" and other like-minded meditations. DIANE ARMITAGE THE magazine November 1997

Copyright©2001. Lucy Maki. All rights reserved.