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Mermaid and Whales at Dinner by Mary Lovelace O'Neal
Mermaid and Whales at Dinner

Mermaid and Whales at Dinner

Artist
Year1993
Classification painting
Medium mixed media on canvas
Dimensions81 x 138 in. (205.7 x 350.5 cm)
Credits Commissioned through the Art in Architecture Program
Fine Arts Collection
U.S. General Services Administration
Location
  • Mary Lovelace O'Neal created this pair of paintings for the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building in Oakland, California.  O'Neal assigned whimsical titles to these abstract paintings: Mermaid and Whales at Dinner and When Aunti Meets Kimi for Suchi.  Each painting features vivid, assertive brushstrokes on canvases that O'Neal repeatedly re-worked, edited, and built upon.  The planes of colors are porous and do not extend all the way to the edges of the paintings, which allows viewers to glimpse the many underlying layers of color and dynamic brushwork.