Deborah Faye Lawrence

Deborah Faye Lawrence has addressed capitalism, feminism, and the rights of the oppressed for her entire career. Although these works do not directly address the COVID-19 virus, they suggest one of the reasons for its rapid spread in the United States: our  inadequate profit-driven health care system  is unfit to address the pandemic. Health care workers and the many victims of the pandemic are paying the price of capitalism based health care paired with ( intentional?) incompetence in the federal government at the top. Militarism that drains our resources away from life giving support is part of the picture. But scrolling to the bottom of the post, you will see a solution that the artist offers in her Tend and Befriend series.

Deborah Faye Lawrence Game of the Occupied States 2017 mixed media on metal serving tray

“I am ardently focused on depicting the human capacity for non-violence, even as I examine and utilize images of discord and brutality from historic and contemporary sources.”

In her own words “Deborah Lawrence grew up in Southern California with working class parents who had deep roots in activism and left wing politics. She moved constantly as a child; art was her means of survival. She works with collage in the tradition of Dada artists who intentionally cut up magazines as a way of attacking capitalism. Her art work is defiant and straightforward, but also humorous and respectful. She engages directly with social injustice.”

“I am continually motivated by the two-dimensional images and text that enter my field of vision via popular culture.  As the material crosses my table, I’m compelled to analyze, categorize and make meaning via a process of cutting, manipulating and composing found information to report on social, emotional, historic and current events.

"I use collage as a meditation to keep my mind focused on something positive: In the studio, I wrestle with cutouts while trying to answer questions like “What makes all those power-mongering empire builders so diabolical?” If my sense of humor prevails, the pieces of paper become more organized, and my own bilious misanthropy is reconciled with a little optimism about the human race. Some people call this exercise ‘satire.’” 

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Deborah Faye Lawrence American Amnesty Tray 2015

Acrylic, collage and varnish on recycled tin tray

16 ¾ x 20 ¾ inches

"In December 2014, a sly media release from the National Native American Council caught my attention, as it promised amnesty to the 240 million white people who live illegally in the U.S. I chose to superimpose the amnesty proposal atop a beautiful map from the collection of Langston Hughes, published in 1940 by The Council Against Intolerance in America, encouraging Americans to see that we are all immigrants from somewhere."

Resist Hate Map, 2015 acrylic, collage and varnish on canvas, American flags and recycled paper map 37 x 42 inches

Detail of Resist Hate

Inspired by research and activism at The Southern Poverty Law Center, this piece details the astonishing number of extremist hate groups active in the US as of late 2014. I hope the map can be an educational tool to stimulate tolerance in our country. 

Under the Banner, 2014 Acrylic, collage and varnish on recycled tin tray, 16 ¾ x 20 ¾ in. Collection of the artist

Look closely to see all the ways in which women's bodies are caught in a power struggle with big Pharma. 

 Shredder

 Deborah Faye Lawrence Tend and Befriend Series, Shredder nos 1,2,32007
Acrylic, shredded documents, collage, varnish/board, frame,
32 x 39 inches (framed).
Shredded US Constitution and other documents provide backdrop for figures that respond to violence with nurturance.

"The artworks addresses the theme of cooperation:  the notion that in times of stress, humans bond together in groups to cooperate and care for one another. Recent research reveals that the impulse to “tend and befriend” presents an alternative to “fight or flight,” which has commonly been considered the natural human response to anxiety and conflict.  (Biobehavioral Responses to Stress in Females: Tend-and-Befriend, Not Fight-or-Flight, by Shelley E. Taylor, et al, Department of Psychology, UCLA)."

From Susan Platt, excerpt from her essay Deedee Does Utopia , Marquand Books, 2008:

"Deborah Faye Lawrence speaks to our disrupted and despotic world, offering possibilities for another future. Subtly composed of thousands of sources, Lawrence’s collages include complex compositions, brilliant color, and a wild sense of humor and fantasy. For many years, Lawrence has combined political concerns with humor in her sophisticated art. She is a direct descendants of artists like German Dadaists Hannah Hoch and John Heartfield. Like them, she cuts up the magazines of capitalism to comment on the ills of society, or to present alternatives.  She frequently uses tin television tray as a surface for collage. Their cultural overtones, including passivity and oppression, fit well with her social commentary. 

Deborah Lawrence uses her power as a visual artist to speak up against injustice and fascism. As she opposes the demonizing language and imagery that dominates our contemporary culture, she offers us a dizzying array of alternatives."

Here you see her commentaries on militarism, hate crimes, attacks on women's bodies, and finally the Tend and Befriend series which is so appropriate to our current moment. The positive side of this virus pandemic is that we do indeed see more reaching out to our neighbors and friends. Lawrence's work speaks directly to the importance of that to counter not only the virus, but hopefully in the long run against the virulent forces that surround us.