Susan Eley Fine Art is pleased to present recent monotypes by Deborah Freedman in My Apple Tree on Tilly Road. This solo shows will be on view through November 4th at the Lower East Side Gallery 190 Orchard Street in the heart of the LES arts district. Hours for SEFA NYC are Tuesday-Saturday, 11AM-6PM. Deborah Freedman presents two series of landscape prints and a painting that continue the artist’s impetus to address the challenges facing our world through her language of distorted, otherworldly interpretations of familiar scenery.
Like the artists of the Hudson River School before her, Deborah Freedman depicts the sublime
landscapes of her Catskills home. Inspired by painters like Frederic Edwin Church and Thomas Cole, Freedman creates emotive scenes that emphasize humanity’s connection to and impact on nature. Abstracting the landscapes for conceptual impact, the artist adds striking color and warped lines. In the Spring Fever series, the changing silhouette of the apple tree straddles the line between concrete and imagined. The color, almost electric in its presence, demands attention and consideration. The artificially arranged hues belie the natural subject matter. Freedman’s linear elements undulate between organic, swaying strokes and bold, disruptive flares wrought with emotion. These contrasting moments further reflect the artist’s focus on the chaos of our modern world. Each print has its own pace and urgency. Cold Spring I serves as a spare, calming scene only to be followed by Cold Spring II, which pulsates with commotion. Through these reimagined spaces, Freedman addresses the environmental and political state of the region and beyond.
DEBORAH FREEDMAN, SPRING FEVER XXI (2018), OIL AND WATERCOLOR MONOPRINT, 12 X 12 INCHES;22 X 20 INCHES, PRINTED BY SUE OEHME AT OEHME GRAPHICS
Serializing many of her subjects, the artist’s career can be used to map the changes to the landscapes she repeatedly depicts, further emphasizing the elements of change and time. In Imagined Places, Freedman displays the vastness of the space in its stretched depiction. This pond, which she has painted for 25 years, is a prime example of the artist’s concentration on environmental impacts over time. Each location becoming a surreal, dreamlike vision, threatened by human action.
DEBORAH FREEDMAN, SPRING FEVER XXI (2018), OIL AND WATERCOLOR MONOPRINT, 12 X 12 INCHES;22 X 20 INCHES, PRINTED BY SUE OEHME AT OEHME GRAPHIC
