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Exploring Debbie Ma’s painting vocabulary is to experience an interesting exercise in the art of limitations. Ma uses a particular language made up of abstracted forms – some geometric, others suggestive of textiles or letters that together conjure words. Her surfaces are textural, and this underscores the energy in much of her work; it is physical as well as optical. Ma asks you to enter into the typography of her paintings and journey through them.
Color is often limited. In some cases, where the work is monochrome, surface subtleties require our full attention. In others, contrast is employed to create an even greater spatial effect, adding depth. There are instances where a full range of hues is employed, opening up a more interwoven sense of space. In all of the paintings, the color supports the structure and textural aspects of the works.
We see Ma as a builder-sculptor/architect. She constructs and deconstructs her letter like shapes establishing an elegant alphabet of shapes and signs.
Barbara A. MacAdam
Barbara A. MacAdam is an art critic and curator, who writes regularly for the Brooklyn Rail and for Art and Object, among other publications. She has been the editor of ARTnews, Art and Auction, Review: Latin American Literature and Arts, and New York Magazine.
The Bridgehampton Museum is pleased to announce The Language of Surface: Paintings by Debbie Ma, a new solo exhibition showcasing the artist’s nuanced and tactile approach to contemporary abstraction. The exhibition opens with a public reception on Saturday, December 6 from 4 to 7 PM at the historic Nathaniel Rogers House.
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