Studio Visit w/ Debra Drexler

Debra Drexler is an abstract painter based simultaneously in Brooklyn and Hawaii.
She holds the position of Professor of Drawing and Painting at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu.

Her latest co-curatorial outing, New New York: Abstract Painting in the 21st Century, is currently on view at The Art Gallery at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa through December 4th.

Drexler's next solo effort, River's Edge, goes on view at the Van Der Plas Gallery, located on the Lower East Side, from October 23 - November 15.


From the Press Rlease:

Debra Drexler maintains studios in both New York and Oahu, and her work is informed by her unique bi-coastal experience. In her luminous, large-scale abstract paintings, she brings the transcendent experience of the Hawaiian landscape to a New York audience. Her juxtaposition of high chroma blues, violets, yellows and pinks create a spatial opening, leading the viewer to a poesis of expansive experience. Through her New York based studio and curatorial practices, she is also deeply engaged in critical conversation surrounding new abstraction. She states “Abstraction takes us to a state of timelessness that is primal in its humanity, disconnecting us momentarily from the mediated “now” of our electronic devices, and connecting us to a “now” that gives us a glimpse of the infinite. While our insistent digital projections can take us away from both our animal and spiritual nature, abstract painting reminds us again of what it means to be human. The corporality of the paint mirrors the flesh of the body and transports us into the timeless.” Drexler's radiant paintings take us to the River's Edge, where we can enter the painting and flow into the sublime. Debra Drexler has had 28 solo exhibits and over 100 group exhibitions at galleries and museums in New York, Hawai’i, Australia, Berlin and across the states. She has recently exhibited in group shows at Van Der Plas Gallery, including the three-person “Red, Yellow, Orange” (2014), and “Rites of Spring”(2015). Her museum solo exhibits include Honolulu Museum and Maui Arts and Cultural Center. Recent New York solo exhibits include: White Box’s Annex, Blue Mountain Gallery, HP Garcia Gallery and Java Studios Gallery. In addition, Drexler has exhibited in group shows in New York including: The Drawing Center, Denise Bibro Gallery, Exit Art, Art Finance Partners, and Stephan Stoyanov Gallery, and Sideshow Gallery. She has been reviewed in Artweek, New York Arts Magazine, and New Art Examiner and numerous newspapers. Debra Drexler is also a Professor of Drawing and Painting at the University of Hawai’i. In October, 2015 she co-curating with Liam Davis “New, New York” at the University of Hawai’i Gallery, a survey examining the resurgence of contemporary abstract painting featuring the work of 30 internationally recognized New York artists. She has also curated exhibits in New York including The Lab Gallery of Rogersmith Arts and at Van Der Plas Gallery.

info

https://debradrexler.wordpress.com/

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 Debra Drexler in her studio in Brooklyn, 2015