In the Studio with Painter Sylvie Mayer
Sylvie Mayer at work in her studio. Photo by Miranda Pikul (detail).
Sylvie Mayer is an accomplished and imaginative painter. She earned her BFA at Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from Boston University. A two time Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation grantee, she has completed recent residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and Mass MoCA. From May 18 - 30, 2026, Mayer will be participating in the exhibition I promise, mute my body alongside Ena Kantardžić at the Goethe-Institut in Boston. The experimental show is a prime opportunity to experience this promising artist’s compelling work in an engaging format.
Mayer has said that performance is a key theme in her work, a quality that comes across often in her paintings, which leverage theatricality as a narrative tool. Considering the roots of this aspect of her artmaking, she points to her upbringing. Mayer says, “My mother worked for Festival Ballet Providence (now Ballet RI), and I spent much of my childhood wandering the hallways of the ballet studio and waiting around backstage during rehearsals. This impacted me in many ways, informing my early visual and psychological experience. Currently, I’m particularly interested in stagecraft and illusion—how simple gestures can create a suspension of disbelief. Painting can possess these same qualities—a well-placed bit of paint can become a figure, just like the tricks of props and lighting on stage can alter space. When I’m composing a painting, I’m often thinking of myself as a kind of choreographer and set designer.”
Mayer has shared her work widely. She has been featured in group exhibitions in locales as far afield as the Fondation des Etats-Unis in Paris to All Street Gallery in New York. In 2023 she was featured in the Fay Chandler Emerging Artist Exhibition at Boston City Hall and in 2024 she was in the roster of the popular Fresh Faces exhibition at Abigail Ogilvy Gallery in Boston. Among the exhibitions in which Mayer has participated, she was featured in Now and Next, an exhibition of new talent that I organized at Dryden Gallery in North Providence in 2025. Mayer’s paintings were some of the favorites in the show, with visitors repeatedly being drawn back in by their hypnotic appeal. Her next exhibition at the Goethe-Institut is a must-see.
Sylvie Mayer, Rehearsal with a Curtain, oil on linen, 24” x 30”, 2025. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Mayer is excited about her forthcoming show in Boston. She says of her co-exhibitor, “This exhibition is in collaboration with Ena Kantardžić, with whom I have been friends for over a decade. We have been in dialogue about art—and pretty much everything else—ever since we met in 2013. Ena is working with technology and ecology in equal measure, and their work is in conversation with nightlife infrastructure, land art, the mechanics of mythology, etymology and time. Ena is one of my favorite artists, so I have a hard time capturing their work in just a sentence, but having the opportunity to work with them to put together this show has been so exciting—our decade of ongoing dialogue made into something tangible. I have had one of Ena’s light works in my studio keeping me company throughout the process of painting, and as a result, the paintings are in direct correspondence.”
May continues, “Mary Ann Mayer, our guest choreographer, is my mother. She will be guiding a group of dancers in improvising on-site. We have collaborated in the past—my work used for costumes and sets for her choreography—but I am excited to see what happens when her work operates within an exhibition space rather than a traditional performance setting.”
A view into Mayer’s Providence studio. A light piece by her co-exhibitor Ena Kantardžić is at the right. Photo courtesy of the artist.
The multimedia quality of this showcase is exciting and adds layers for more examination. Mayer’s cross-disciplinary artistic roots lend themselves to an exhibition which celebrates cross-disciplinary explorations. She is a great painter, but one who looks beyond the traditional lens of a painter’s practice - to fantastic effect.
Asked what she hopes visitors experience at her exhibition, Mayer says, “This show is both experimental and collaborative, and is taking place in a specific setting—the Goethe-Institut’s Grand Hall, which is an ornate 19th century ballroom. I am excited to see how viewers respond to my work when placed in this space and amongst Ena’s sculptures, which include intelligent lighting that will illuminate the space, the dancers, the viewers, and the paintings. I hope that it is an immersive and unique experience for viewers.”
Looking forward, Mayer plans to lay low after her exhibition concludes. She says, “I’m looking forward to a relatively chill summer after an active spring, with lots of time in the studio. I’m seeking to collaborate with more performers, worm my way into theatres, and meet more artists in Providence.”
I promise, mute my body, will be on view May 18 - 30, 2026 at the Goethe-Institut at 170 Beacon Street in Boston. On May 23 from 4 - 9pm, there will be an opening reception and live dance rehearsal. On May 30 from 2 - 6pm there will be a closing reception and artists panel.
Learn more about Sylvie Mayer’s work at www.sylviemayer.art, or follow her on Instagram at @sylvie__mayer.
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A detail from the corner of Mayer’s Providence studio. Photo courtesy of the artist.
