Portraits - An Exhibition Curated by Shane Guffogg
Featuring selective work consisting of paintings, mixed media and drawings, by Southern California and internationally acclaimed artists, Xander Berkeley, Don Bachardy, Jeff Britton, Shane Guffogg, Laura Hipke, Doro Hoffman, Michael Lindsay – Hogg, Deborah Martin, Ed Ruscha, Paul Ruscha,Vonn Sumner and Alison Van Pelt.
Deborah Martin's landscape paintings are stills that are seemingly lifted out of a film that is playing in our minds, with colors painted like a Polaroid that was left out in the California desert sun. Her landscapes are void of people, but we know they were once there from the man-made objects, like a rusting old Ford sedan that is parked in the front yard of a deserted house. These paintings are a documentation of our inability to see into the future, to see that progress and expansion comes at a cost.
Deborah's portraits of preteens with Autism exist in the same world as her landscapes. Deborah's refined painting techniques create a sensation of inquiry about what her subjects are thinking and feeling. She has captured a snapshot of a distilled moment, where we see into her subjects, we sense their wonderment of the world around them and their fear that the world is unpredictable. These portraits are naked in their truth, with souls laid bare. They are unsettling because of their openness and willingness to be fragile. Most of us have a built in armor that has had years to toughen up against the harsh realities of life. Somewhere along the way, we shut down to the innocence we were brought into the world with. Deborah's subjects are portraits of what has been lost, both in our quest for the American Dream and the ability to stop and be in awe of the simplest pleasures that life has to offer.
- Shane Guffogg
Deborah Martin Eddie at Five, 2017 Oil on canvas 42x54"
