Hildy Maze was an artist from New York City who lived and worked in East Hampton, New York. Maze explored abstract/figurative painting, drawing and sculpture like an archaeologist, presenting ephemeral marks and shapes that speak to the discourse of impermanence, continuing change and the nature of mind. As objects that also symbolize the process of mind, the artist’s rustic representations feature textures and tones that suggest both archaeology and landscape.

Each painting by Maze is the result of spontaneous, physical engagement. The random application of paint on paper blends evenly. Mind’s Habitual Constraints (2013) for instance, features a thick density of black brushstrokes that suggest both botanical and ocean life forms. Escapelessness (2013) portrays the vestige of a kneeling figure while We Leap (2013) appears comparatively reductive. The suggestion of uninhibited movement appears in Her Sensorial Language (2013) as red, green, gray and black spatter together and clash, before muting dissolving into a translucent sheen of oil.

Hildy Maze worked at Push Pin Studios in the late 1970s and later with Milton Glaser. Since 1986 Maze has exhibited throughout the Hamptons at Guild Hall, Bolonga Gallery, and Lizan/Topps Gallery in East Hampton as well as The Red Barn and Benton Gallery in Southampton. In 2003 Crazy Monkey Gallery in Amagansett hosted a solo show of the artist’s work. In 2010 Maze presented a new selection of work at The Davis Lisboa Mini-Museum of Contemporary Art located in Barcelona, Spain. The Surmang Foundation in Beijing, China and the Sarah House in Santa Barbara, California exhibited Maze’s art in 2012. The artist participated in a group show titled Works on Paper at the Jeffrey Leda Gallery in Long Island City, New York. From 2018 to 2020, Hildy Maze’s paintings became more figurative as contexts changed. An evaluation of the artist’s work, written by professor Dore Ashton, is available upon request.

Hildy Maze passed away on July 2, 2020. A tribute of her life and work was published by The Chronicle Project on July 5, 2020.