Deborah Martin’s Art Makes a New Connection

Presented as alone in their private worlds, the softly lit children in Deborah Martin’s new series, “Portraits of Autism,” leave an after-image. Martin is best known for painting Provincetown’s out of the way cottages on the verge of gentrification, and trailers in the California desert seemingly abandoned by present- day Okies. The new work is just beginning to evolve as a series. Always drawn to scenes communicating vulnerability, loss and loss’ opposite, persistence, in these portraits Martin explores similarly complex emotions within the landscape of the souls of autistic children.

In “Eddie at Five,” a boy looks out with tender purity. The innocent surprise filling his large, round eyes pulls the viewer in. Tulip lips convey the sweetness of a summer strawberry. Somehow his striped shirt makes Eddie look even thinner, as if a strong gust could carry him off.