Deborah Martin

The "Narrow Lands" is a transdisciplinary project documenting the architectural geography of history and time along the Outer Cape. Martin’s paintings that feature structures on the Outer Cape have justly warranted comparisons to Edward Hopper’s. Like Hopper’s paintings, Martin’s interpretations provide neither a critical nor celebratory stance. Unlike Hopper, however, Martin’s application of paint is undetectable.

Martin's series "Back of Beyond" features scenes of the unincorporated town of Wonder Valley, located in Southern California’s Mojave Desert. The imprint of America is more than apparent in this group of landscapes that feature large, gas guzzling vehicles from the 1970s and '80s. Bleached bare from years of unprotected exposure underneath the sun’s aggressive blaze, Martin’s vintage sedans, vans, and convertibles don’t only evoke an air of abandonment, but they chronicle that which has been forgotten in exchange for what our commercially driven society considers worthy. Martin’s recent series, The Slabs: The Last Free Place in America, gives voice to the nomadic cultures that drift in and out of Slab City. While the inhabitants of Slab City are noticeably absent from Martin’s work, her paintings radiate with an underling pulse emblematic of the community’s soul. Such is achieved through the artist’s ongoing investigation of contrasting themes that touch upon isolation as well as community.

1992 BFA, School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, MA 1992 BS Master of Arts in Teaching, Art Education Tufts University

Deborah Martin (born June 9, 1961) is a contemporary American painter. Her artistic work examines the complexities of individual experience particularly in its relation to home, isolation and memory. Much of her practice emerges in collaborative conversation with writers and poets, taking form through exhibitions and publications. Her stark landscape paintings often convey the essence inherent within marginalized communities that exist on the fringes of American society. In 2016, Martin turned her focus to portraiture developing a long term project "Portraits of Autism" exploring the relationship and impact autistic children have within their immediate family and community on a continuum.