Megan Read

Artist Statement

At the most basic level, the tensions, contradictions, and complexities of simply existing here, now… often seem too big, too dissonant, and too dreamlike for me to grasp. My attempts to paint them are my way to find an order in things and often lead to these aspirational portraits of multiple selves. Subjective snapshots, reflecting the inside out.

Biography

Megan (Mae) Elizabeth Read is an American figurative artist living and working in Charlottesville, Virginia. Largely self-taught, she began as a charcoal and pencil artist but now works almost exclusively in oil with pieces ranging from small still life to large scale figurative paintings, often featuring the female form. Since Mae began focusing on painting in 2017 she has been exhibited internationally in galleries and museums including the European Museum of Modern Art (MEAM) in Barcelona, Spain, the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, WI, and Sotheby’s, NY. Her work is held in a number of private collections, including the Bennett Collection of Women Realists, has been included in various publications, and was awarded 1st place for Imaginative Realism at the 2019 International Art Renewal Center Salon.

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Elaine and the Artist, 2019 - 2020

Oil on Linen, 84” x 60"

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At Home 2, 2020

Oil on Linen, 5" x 5"

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Marrow, 2020

Oil on ACM, 5" x 5"

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Roots, 2020

Oil on ACM, 5" x 5"