“The Language of Surface: Paintings by Debbie Ma” is on view at the Bridgehampton Museum’s Nathaniel Rogers House through Jan. 10. The solo show highlights the artist’s nuanced and tactile approach to contemporary abstraction.
A graphic designer whose clients have included Revlon, Ralph Lauren, Estée Lauder, Givenchy, and countless others, Ms. Ma’s large abstract paintings explore the multidimensionality of geometric forms and patterns. Her use of marble dust and pigments adds a textural quality to the surfaces.
During an interview in connection with her 2023 exhibition at the David Owsley Museum of Art in Muncie, Ind., Ms. Ma said, “The beauty of imperfection and impermanence evokes a deep emotion in me. A surface can never be too rough or a line too tortuous in my visual vocabulary. I find inspiration in old surfaces. Old walls, faded frescoes, peeling paint; creased, leathery faces etched with the ravages of time are all muses for my paintings.”
In an essay, Barbara MacAdam, a curator, critic, and former editor of ARTnews, cited among Ms. Ma’s muses such artists as Robert Ryman, Giorgio Morandi, Joan Miró, Cy Twombley, Joaquín Torres Garcia, and Antoni Tapies.
Noting Ms. Ma’s preoccupation with materials and their effects, Ms. MacAdam said, “There are Twombly-like marks, calligraphic jottings, and Jackson Pollock – evoking gestures and layering. She says she is fascinated with grids (but not too tightly administered) and can’t resist patterning and surface textures. Her use of geometry suggests how we view and measure what we see. . . . Surprisingly, having long worked mostly in monochrome, Ms. Ma has recently been experimenting with color in her works.”
