Artist Profile: Deborah Zlotsky

In Deborah Zlotsky’s new series, Adjacent Possibilities, the artist borrows from the scientific term which refers to the way organisms and systems seek alternative states of being by shifting slightly from a designated path. When this happens, more complex relationships emerge. Zlotsky’s new paintings mark a significant departure from her previous work. For the past four years, Zlotsky has restricted herself to black & white drawings. Although the work was also based on abstract forms, it was much more organic and sinewy. The new paintings are strongly focused on form and color. The forms are neither geometric nor organic but a strange combination of the two, and the mature and handsome color palette adds a gravity and seriousness to the work. Within each painting, abstract forms not only appear to be figuring themselves out, but competing for space of the canvas. The bold blocks of color collide and push into one another, generating more complex relationships and inevitably push the canvas to appear ever evolving. Zlotsky says of her work, “abrading, repainting and re-varnishing lead to unexpected relationships, and I work in response to the changes that accumulate. Accidents repeatedly redirect me, blurring my understanding of the difference between accident and intention.

Deborah Zlotsky currently resides in upstate New York where she is a professor at St. Rose College. She received her B.A. in art history from Yale University, and her M.F.A. from the University of Connecticut. She exhibits extensively along the East Coast.

On view October 13 – November 12th, 2011 at
Kathryn Markel Fine Arts
529 West 20th Street New York, NY 10011 p. 212.366.5368 f. 212.366.5468
Website: http://www.markelfinearts.com