Deb Waterman

Deb Waterman’s body of work is characterized by her skill for reinvention, mixing old and new elements to create urban nostalgic scenaries. Having always loved the appearance of weathered walls plastered with peeling paint and old posters, Waterman revives this aesthetic with a keen eye. The creative objective of her work is to “make something beautiful out of dilapidation.” Her tableaus explore the dissonance between old and new materials, beautifully intertwined in dreamlike and melancholy images.

Deb Waterman assembles original photography, assorted papers, acrylics, oil, charcoal, ink and pencil in her works. The variety of resources she is able to use has proved indispensable to Waterman, who says the biggest challenge the collage medium posed was its unforgiving lack of transparency. Finding a way to replicate the effects of transparency afforded by paint, especially watercolors, was “a large victory” for the artist. The labor shows through in Waterman’s collages; layers upon layers of material remain visible in the finished pieces.

Muriel Guépin Gallery