Artist Statement | My work begins with a fascination with nature combined with a love of pattern, decoration, and ornamentation. In my highly detailed work on paper, I morph nature with the decorative, creating an alternate “natural” world where flora and fauna, dense patterning, and a maximalist sensibility come together to create a new world of hybrid chandeliers, curious bouquets, and abundant gardens. Boldly decorative and unapologetically pretty, these imagined worlds are characterized by symmetry, bold color and pops of neon that conjure a fantastical and idealized view of nature. In my ‘Wallflower’ series, individual elements from my work have leapt off the surface of the painting and come alive in three-dimensional form. Artist Biography | Mary O'Malley received her Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts, New York City in 2005, and her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston in 1997. Her work has been exhibited widely at galleries and other venues across the US, most notably at the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln, MA, the Fitchburg Art Museum in Fitchburg, MA, and Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, MA. She has been the recipient of multiple grants, including the Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grant, the St. Botolph Foundation’s Grant-in-Aid Award, and the Berkshire Taconic Artist’s Resource Trust Grant. Her work has been featured on Design*Sponge, in Uppercase Magazine, and twice in the publication New American Paintings. Her work is held in numerous private and public collections, including at the U.S. Embassy in Dubai through the U.S. State Department’s Art in Embassies Program. A Massachusetts native, O’Malley currently lives and works on the Seacoast of New Hampshire.