Architecture Of Stillness, 2026

“The Architecture of Stillness” explores the state of being present. Janet Maya invites us to experience her memories of moments in the past through figures that occupy the canvas with striking color and sculptural shapes. Faceless, the figures are universal vessels that give space for the viewer’s own emotions and memories.  

“In my work, stillness is not a lack of motion - it is an act of being present.”  In “Their Still Water Runs Deep,” we are transported to the ocean shore, where faceless bathers in vintage bathing suits and bathing caps stand still in water.  They dissolve into the calmness of blue blocks of color.  In “Boundless Love,” a white headscarf adorns a monochromatic figure, its quick, expressive brushstrokes a tribute to the artist’s mother and the Jackie O elegance of that era.  In “Gilded 2025 #1,” an arresting and formal 6-foot figure in a gold-leafed dress, long black gloves, and a tall hat fills the canvas. The surface of the dress holds reflection and density, shaping the figure into a still presence with a sense of quiet power and eminence. In “Girls Waiting on Mars,” figures are suspended on the red planet, held in a state of pause between arrival and continuation.

For Maya, “the plan is never a plan. I begin a painting by sketching directly into the paint, so I don’t lose any spontaneity. I sculpt figures using blocks of color, adding and subtracting until there is an edited space. That space invites intimacy and stillness, which creates room for the viewer’s experience.”

Maya grew up on Long Island (NY) in the 1960s and 1970s, by the ocean. The ocean continues to inhabit her work, as do the fabrics, colors, and textures of her father’s textile business.  Animating all her work are the childhood trips with her mother to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and SoHo art galleries, where she absorbed the work of De Kooning, Manet, Rothko, and others.  Maya studied at the School of Visual Arts in NY.  She has worked as a scenic artist, photographer, and a T.V. commercial editor - all of which have informed her bold use of color and composition.  Her paintings are part of the permanent collection of the Mattituck Museum and have been exhibited in galleries across New York and Connecticut.