Biography

“Where art and fashion merge, traces of nature are always woven within.”

Genevieve May is an artist based in New York City, celebrated for her distinctive fusion of abstraction and figurative realism. Coming from a diverse creative background, including painters, authors, filmmakers, fashion designers, sculptors and musicians, she embraces different mediums to convey the human experience. Her work often integrates elements of fashion, music and calligraphic poetry, creating a dynamic interplay between identity and visual expression. She considers herself a storyteller while aiming to achieve an illustrative experience with a contemporary flair. 

Raised in a renovated tobacco barn in a rural town outside of Northampton, Massachusetts, Genevieve May was born the daughter of accomplished artists and authors, Dennis Nolan and Lauren Mills. Genevieve remembers many formative trips to museums, art classes, and gallery openings. As a child she studied classical drawing, calligraphy and painting with her parents and later studied figure drawing and sculpting at Lyme Academy, all before the age of fifteen. Upon entering high school she took credited college courses in egg tempera painting and in addition, studied watercolor and fresco painting with her parents in Europe. Later, Genevieve studied color theory and cadaver life drawing at Stamford University. Here she was able to practice the old renaissance tradition of dissecting human bodies in order to improve figurative drawing skills. She attributes her knowledge and deep understanding of the human form to this intensive. Once she felt that she had grasped the techniques her education provided, she summoned her art forms and created her own methods of self expression and story telling.

Gallery exhibitions: 

Solo Show, Painting Strangers, EBK Gallery 2017 

Group Show, Mini Show, Abend Gallery 2020

Group Show, Process, Robert Lange Studios 2020

Group Show, Figurative Works, Abend Gallery 2021

Solo Show, Wolves Once Walked Here, Abend Gallery 2023

Group Show, American Dream, Galleri Ramfjord, 2024

Awards: 

Amaranthine, Artist Renewal Center catalog, 2017 

Alex, Lydian Heart, Ondine, Artist Renewal Center catalog, 2018 

Rise Up, Artist Renewal Center, 2019 

Pray For Love, Artist Renewal Center, 2020

Pas De Mot, Best in Show, Tre Brennen Award, 2024

Art Conventions: 

Illuxcon, group show 2019

LA Art Show, group show with Abend Gallery, 2020

Scope Miami, 2024

Publications:

Issue 31, Join the Tribe, Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, 2020

Artist Renewal Center, 2017-2020

Beautiful Bizarre 2020

American Art Collector 2023

The Artist Guide, 2024

Museums:

Group Show, Springfield Museums, Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Art 2021