About:
Deborah Walsh is an American artist and educator best known for her shiny cars, glass, and motorcycles. Although her work is photorealistic, her compositions push the relationship between realism and abstraction. Her work is constantly evolving and she enjoys creating in a variety of genre and media.
Born and raised in Syracuse, NY her artistic talents were shaped by her studies at Syracuse University where she earned a BFA in Painting. Deborah continued her studies at Syracuse where she earned a MS in Art Education so she could teach art in private and public schools. After retiring from teaching full-time, she spends her time as a full time artist, traveling with her husband, teaching as an Artist in Residence in the schools, and volunteers at the Everson Museum of Art Syracuse. Her work is in many collections in United States and Europe.
Artist Statement:
The independent body of work that I have created over a number of years contains many reflections. Light falling on reflective surfaces, defining form, creating pattern and rhythm, intrigues me. My work begins with source photographs as a roadmap to manipulate and alter the image to create a composition that is aesthetically exciting and meaningful to me. Reflections are used to uncover more detail than what the eye sees naturally; images that might be otherwise missed or overlooked. The “frozen moment in time” is an important element as well as it taps into our shared experiences and emotions and brings narrative into the work. I reveal ideas that photography, expressionism, and abstraction can’t. I paint what I see, as I see it, in my own way. Cars, motorcycles, bottles, glass, the everydayness of American life are my subjects. I choose representation over abstraction but the abstract qualities of the forms dominate; the shapes, lines, textures, and colors are forever interesting to me. Creatively restless and endless experimentation with style, I continue to explore the relationships between hyperrealism and abstraction.