Born in 1959 in Wichita Falls, in the middle of nowhere West Texas, Ealy Mays has been hailed as one of the most influential African-American artists of his generation.
He has been a resident artist at SKOWHEGAN in Maine (where he worked along fellow artists Anish Kapoor, Gary Hill, Nan Goldin, and Jacob Lawrence). In the late 90’s, Ealy moved to Paris and soon became a resident artist at Cité International des Arts.
Ealy has been exhibited at The Guggenheim Museum (New York), Carrousel du Louvre (Paris), and Galeria Clava (Mexico), and is featured in several permanent collections including the prestigious Joyner Giuffrida Collection of Abstract Art, the Larry and Brenda Thompson Art Collection, as well as the those of Reggie Van Lee and George N’namdi.

Currently, Ealy’s work can be found at ABXY Gallery in New York, as well as at AARON Galleries in Chicago. Click here to read Ealy’s biography on ABXY Gallery’s site
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Expositions
Past Exposition:
2021 BRKLYN Bar, SOLO EXHIBIT, Paris, France
2019 GARE à L’ART, SOLO EXHIBIT, Paris, France
Upcoming:
2022 ABXY Gallery, SOLO EXHIBIT, New York City, NY
Press and Media
DC Magazine


Ealy’s “Mona Lisa” featured in the March 2012 issue of DC magazine, showcasing the art collection of Reggie Van Lee.
Expanding Traditions

Exhibition January 28 – May 7, 2017 at the Georgia Museum of Art
Curator : Shawnya L. Harris
This collection and its catalogue showcase fifty-eight works by artists in Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson’s collection of art by African Americans.
It also celebrates the inception of the Thompson’s endowed curatorship, held by Dr. Shawnya L. Harris, who wrote the lead essay in this volume. The Thompsons donated one hundred works of art to the Georgia Museum of Art in 2012, and this exhibition provided an overview of certain aspects of the Thompsons’ commitment to art collecting over the last several decades in tandem with discussions about the shifting artistic and political landscape of African American artists found in their collection.
Artists featured include Amalia Amaki, Kara Walker, Benny Andrews, Elizabeth Catlett, Hale Woodruff, Charles Ethan Porter, Norman Lewis, Stefanie Jackson, Bob Blackburn, Archibald Motley, Howardena Pindell, and Mildred Thompson.
Four Generations
The Joyner Giuffrida Collection of Abstract Art is widely recognized as one of the most significant collections of modern and contemporary work by African and African Diasporan artists, and Four Generations draws upon the collection’s unparalleled holdings to explore the critical contributions made by black artists to the evolution of visual art in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Extensively illustrated with hundreds of works in a variety of media, and featuring scholarly texts by leading artists, writers and curators, Four Generations gives an essential overview of some of the most notable artists and movements of the last century, up to and including works being made today.
Four major new scholarly essays provide touchstones for the unifying themes of the collection, and provide historical background on the struggles, innovations, communities and questions that have driven the development of African American and African arts—including a new text by Joost Bosland on the reception of contemporary African art after 1989; Susan and Elihu Rose Chief Curator of the Jewish Museum’s Norman L. Kleeblatt on the pioneering achievements of Norman Lewis; Tate Modern Senior Curator Mark Godfrey on black artists in the 1960s and 1970s; as well as a crucial look at contemporary art and practice by the book’s editor Courtney J. Martin, Assistant Professor of the History of Art and Architecture at Brown University.
Short essays on single artists and significant works punctuate each historical chapter, including texts and interviews by noteworthy writers such as Thelma Golden, Philippe Vergne, Thomas J. Lax, Lawrence Rinder, Christopher Bedford and others, on artists like Kara Walker, Mark Bradford, Lorna Simpson, Norman Lewis, Glenn Ligon, Theaster Gates, Clifford Owens, Jennie C. Jones, Julie Mehretu, and more.
The catalogue is further illustrated with major works by artists from throughout the last century, such as Beauford Delaney, Jacob Lawrence, Alma Thomas, David Hammons, Sam Gilliam, Lauren Halsey, Oscar Murillo, Jayson Musson, Robin Rhode, Zander Blom, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye and many others.
Filled with countless insights and treasures, Four Generations: The Joyner Giuffrida Collection of Abstract Art is a journey through one of the most exceptional collections of art in America, and through the momentous legacy of African and African Diasporan art from the last hundred years.