Deborah Held

Artist Statement

Artist Statement
I make large abstract oil, acrylic and encaustic paintings, mostly a cappella as opposed to en plain air. After concentrating on two dimensional art for several years, I expanded into three dimensional art, stone carving in marble and alabaster, then moving to bronze, clay, painted and molded board and found objects.
The paintings are abstracts and semi abstracts that are explosions of color and movement, many of them large in scale. I want the viewer to bring their own imaginations to the art so I suggest rather than delineate. The sculptures riff on the look and meaning of objects, including the figure, veering off into abstract as the work demands. Inspired by Rodin, I exaggerate and reinvent “reality”. The kinetic sculptures are abstract mobiles fashioned out of colorful forms and wire, often using a flexible art board that I first massage and infuse with acrylic paint, then mold into abstract forms that move in the air currents. They make the air’s touch visible.
It is exciting to explore the commonalities inherent in sensory experiences; how music looks, how gesture conveys emotion, the texture of dreams… Keeping open to this beneficial synesthesia is my artistic attitude.
As I see it, the mind stores experiences in metaphorical patterns that inform each other. Tap into this and a work can resonate, setting up a visceral communication between artist, art and viewer.
I look to channel some of the energy and beauty of the world, cosmic, microcosmic, natural, invented and imagined. Being receptive to the dazzling beauty of nature; night skies, clouds, waves, leaves, lichen, scented breeze, sunlight, bird song, spring peepers, and of man made creations; operatic arias, symphonies, temples, art of the masters in the Tate, the Louvre, the LACMA, the Met, the Uffizi, the National Gallery, Art Institute of Chicago. There’s inspiration sparking all around.