Statement

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“The Refraction Series”, 2012 to the present

The focus of interest in this body of work is not the objects that fill the canvas but what can’t be touched; light, refraction, reflection, shadow and how the application of marks and color shapes describe these things to our eyes.  Through these common objects the intrigues of light and fluid and distortion are rendered.  The subjects are painted as I observe them. The method is a classical method of setting up an intriguing still life and painting it by eye. I am directly applying the colors in the shapes that I see and building the image from that. Another aspect to this work is the choice of subjects and the narrative they create. Although the paintings join together everyday things such as a dish towel, a bread knife and glass objects such as wine bottles and wine glasses, there are elements of mystery and discord:  Why is the wine glass toppled?  How did the glass break? And was the knife used for something other than slicing bread?  The unseen action in these paintings creates both a story and questions for the viewer.

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Bio

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Deborah Holcombe is a painter presently working in still life painting with an emphasis on refraction and refection of objects through glass.  Holcombe was born and raised in Hopewell, NJ.  She is a graduate of Tyler School of Art/Temple University where she earned her BFA.  She has traveled extensively, living and studying art in Rome, Italy. After a decade of living in New York City Holcombe now resides in Yonkers, NY in a big house with her eclectic family. Holcombe maintains her studio in the Alexander Carpet Mills in Yonkers as a member of the YoHo artists collective. She has shown her work extensively in group and one woman shows and in publications.  Numerous paintings and commissions are in private collections.