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Merrilyn Duzy
USA
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"It is a loving celebration to paint people, to express the beauty and sensuousness of their forms."
Merrilyn Duzzy was born in 1946 to a dysfunctional family in semi-rural Pacoima, California. School was her escape from the issues at home, while art provided her with an identity; she understood at an early age that she was an artist. She had to look after her younger siblings, but whenever she got the time, she would read and create art. That sense of self and purpose was her savior. Her artistic inspiration and motivation stemmed from those early years of family strife and personal adversity.
Louise Bourgeois & Merrilyn Duzy | Oil
$6,500
42 X 49
The "Lives and Works Talks with Women Artists," was recently published while I was visiting Louise in New York. I brought along my copy, which included her interview. We photographed each other while reading the book. This is a double portrait from that visit, set in Louise's Chelsea home.
Her visual acuity developed early, aided by a remarkable awareness of and appreciation for color. One Easter, when she was three years old, she was given a basket of brightly dyed Easter eggs. She can still clearly picture the stunning blue, green, pink, and yellow eggs. She recalls the cold, dark green walls of her parent's bedroom as well as the warm green pepper tree in their front yard. A whole new world had emerged. She was mesmerized by mid-century Pacoima's starry night skies with the canopy of shining stars. It inspired her life-long love of cosmic imagery and the wonder of the universe.
Sandie in the Sky with Diamonds | Oil
$6,000
48 X 38
"Sandie in the Sky with Diamonds" is a joyous painting of a woman comfortable in her skin. She celebrates herself as a sexual being far from the fashionable or ideal. She is a woman that says, "this is me, I am here, and I am proud."
Her spiritual self was ignited by her Catholic upbringing. It inspired her to make erotic art. She stumbled upon religious literature around the time of her puberty. The changes in her body and her awakening sexuality were intertwined with images of the saints in ecstasy and bondage. She has been fascinated with the erotic ever since. It took her ten years to complete her Bachelor of Fine Arts at California State Northridge University due to financial difficulties and personal turmoil. School continued to be her secure and orderly environment. She is forever grateful to the many good friends whose support and encouragement helped her to survive and thrive.
“I remember the very first box of Crayola I received: 64 magical colors!”
The feminist art movement entered the social, political, and cultural scene around the beginning of the 1970s. Since female artists weren’t represented in books about erotic art at the time, she took it upon herself to conduct interviews with women, work with a photographer and writer to explore their sexuality, gender roles, and body image. Their book, "The New Art: Female Eroticism," inspired her to curate several exhibitions of women's erotic art. "Erotic Visions" in Westwood, California, was the first such exhibit on the west coast. In the mid-1970s, the National Women's Caucus for Art was founded in New York, with regional chapters across the country.
Joyous Light | Oil
$6,000
48 X 36
Gian Lorenzo Bernini's "Ecstasy of Saint Teresa," Antonio da Correggio's "Jupiter and Io," and the many paintings of Jesus on the Cross inspired "Joyous Light." My version glorifies the erotic, joyous celebration of a bound woman being seduced by the light.
My Neighbor, Judy Packard, has one of the most extensive and gorgeous collections of handmade hats that I've ever seen. She has been a major collector of fine millinery for more than 40 years. Whenever I see her, she wears an exquisite hat – colorful, exuberant, and lively. We, her neighbors, have always called her the "Hat Lady," as she never goes out without wearing one of these delectable concoctions. I've long wanted to paint her surrounded by these colorful and delightful hats.
The Hat Lady | Oil
$6,000
48 X 40
In 1976, she joined the Southern California Chapter, and in 1980, she was elected president. In 1982, she relocated to the Tampa Bay area of Florida, where she hoped to share her knowledge of women artists as widely as possible. She designed her illustrated lecture, "Walking Through History: Women Artists Past & Present," which she has presented from coast to coast and in several other countries. They set out to showcase the work of women artists, to illustrate not only their art but also to highlight the absence of women artists in art history texts.
“I believe that experiencing art from various cultures and having traveled to so many places has given me the best education possible.”
“I was working with erotic themes and reading about other women who were also doing so. However, no female artists were featured in any of the most recent art books on erotic art. That's when I decided that I’d have to publish one myself!”
After moving back to California in 1986, she continued her art studies at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, where she received her Master of Fine Arts in 1988. At Otis, she kept creating portraits. Her best painting of the artist Peggy Mosheim was stolen off the wall during a graduate exhibit, which was a depressing blow for her. She was so traumatized by this that she struggled for years to create any figurative work. Even while she probably ought to have been flattered that someone would commit a crime and risk going to jail in order to buy one of her paintings, she wished that they had simply purchased it.
Mary Mazzola | Pastel
$1,900
20 X 16
The portrait "Mary Mazzola" is one of three paintings of my friend and model. I was enchanted by her beautiful red hair and asked her to model for my painting, "The Red-Headed Twins."
She turned inward and found a renewal of her spiritual side with "The Creation Series," including the paintings "Rho Ophiuchus: The Mother of Newborn Stars," and "Back of Beyond." The Creation Series led to large landscapes with a touch of eroticism, such as "Night Canyon," which celebrates the sexual ritual of the sacred marriage between a god and a goddess. A few years after graduating, she picked up portrait painting again. Louise Bourgeois, the first artist in her "Artists' Series," was someone she encountered while working on her women's erotic art book.
Mary in the Garden | Pastel
$1,900
18 X 14
The deep greens of my garden plants, in contrast to the lushness of Mary and her beautiful red hair, were the inspiration for "Mary in the Garden."
Merrilyn made lifelong friends with Louise and many other artists she encountered while working on the book. She painted, organized exhibitions, gave talks on women artists, erotica, spirituality, and the cosmos in the years that followed. She still does all of these things now. She is grateful to her husband, Howard Bentkower, who has enabled her to travel extensively around the world. She spent her vacations in several of the countries where he worked. She also visited other countries, where she displayed her artwork.
Mary Reading is the first of my portraits of Mary Mazzola. Following our release from the Covid restrictions, I painted this indoor scene while I waited for my spring garden to bloom.
Mary Reading | Pastel
$1,900
20 X 16
"Art gave me an identity while growing up in a dysfunctional family."
Jimmy | Pastel
$1,200
18 X 12
I was fascinated by my sculptor friend’s delightful dreadlocks. I enjoyed the challenge of painting Jimmy’s long hair and exuberant smile.
Joining eight other female artists from the San Fernando Valley to start a collaboration resulted in one of the most rewarding and fulfilling relationships of her life. For more than 28 years, "Group Nine" has been producing and displaying their works. Each of them feels as though they have found a second, loving family as a result of their long-lasting friendships, which have added immensely meaningful experiences to their lives. Duzy lectures and curates’ exhibitions on erotic art, the cosmos, and women artists in addition to her track record of international exhibitions. She was described as "Omnidirectional" by her Otis advisor, Scott Grieger, and this is accurate given that her many varied interests, the people she knows, her surroundings, and the skies above continue to serve as her subjects and themes for her artwork.
"Garden Light" celebrates the beauty of the nude, caressed by the sun in a lush garden.
Garden Light | Pastel
$1,900
28 X 18
She enjoys and takes delight in the pure pleasure of painting, mixing the colors, stroking the pastels, and working with fire for encaustics. Merrilyn compares making art to going to a feast and trying all you can. Duzy's relationships with artists, friends and her family provide the subjects of her most challenging and enjoyable paintings. She is reminded of Vern Wilson's advice to stroke and caress when painting flesh, in painting people.
Lynette with Drapery | Pastel
$2,500
28 X 18
"Lynette with Drapery" is one of many paintings of Lynette Davis. Vern Willison's
Advice to stroke and caress while painting flesh was foremost in my mind while painting the many nudes of Lynette.
“I hope people connect my work to their own experiences.”
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