“Hildy Maze: Vajrayogini’s Awakening,” a show of nine large paintings made between 1985 and 1987, is on view at Gallery 851 in Springs through Nov. 29. It is the second of two solo exhibitions at the gallery for Maze, who died in 2020.
A member of the New York Buddhist community since the mid-1970s, Maze attended the Vajradhatu Seminary in Boulder, Colo., in 1982, where, during an intensive 12-week program, she studied the principles and doctrine of Vajrayana Buddhism. Shortly after, having experienced a spiritual awakening, she traveled in India to connect with her Vajrayana practices.
The works in the show are of Tantric Buddhist design. All nine pieces are large works of oil painted on mixed media of burlap and cheesecloth, mounted into solid wood frames.
Considering that Alexander Reinwald, the director of Gallery 851, only met Maze once, 15 years ago, and saw her paintings for the first time last year, his commitment to her work is unusual. It began, as many things do, by chance, at the Springs farmers market.
“When I backed my car in to park, the driver’s window was open in the car next to me, and there was a woman reading a newspaper. I looked over and asked, ‘Any good news in there?’ ” As they talked, one thing led to another, and after touring the market together, the woman said she was there to see a show of paintings in Ashawagh Hall by Maze, who’d been a close friend.
“I walked with her into the building and I was, like, whoa! That was the first time I saw her work. I thought it was amazing and very powerful, so I bought a work on paper. I felt I had to have something from that artist.” In the process he introduced himself to Veronica Mahoney, a board member of the artist’s foundation. Even though he had not yet signed a lease on the building at 851 Springs-Fireplace Road, he decided he wanted to show Maze’s work.
Over the next few months, even though Reinwald told Mahoney, “If I get this building, I can’t think of another artist I’d want to show more than I’d want to show Hildy,” she demurred. However, once he had signed the lease and invited her to see the space, after half an hour, she asked, “Would you like to come and see 60 paintings?” The rest, as they say — well, you know what they say.
Reinwald included two of Maze’s paintings in the gallery’s opening group show, and sold one. After mounting an exhibition of work by Joe Zucker, he visited the storage space and realized one Maze show wouldn’t be enough, because, he said, the large paintings made between 1985 and 1987 were so powerful that they needed to be shown by themselves. “They wouldn’t play nice” with the earlier work, he said.
“They’re just so powerful. There was such clarity to her vision of what she was trying to express. She was wilding out.” Hence the title of the show, which suggests Maze’s “awakening” after the time she spent in Colorado and India.
The installation is as dramatic as the paintings.
“I had a vision, but at first I told myself to ignore it. But as it got closer, I thought this place would look so cool with black walls and decided to do it. I ended up painting the whole place black.”
He was right. The black walls are the perfect background for Maze’s dramatic and colorful paintings.
