Deborah Grant (born 1968) is a Canadian-born

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

artist noted for her work in

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

and

collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...

, particularly for her series "Random Select". She lives and works in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Early life and education

Grant was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Canada, in 1968, and spent the first four years of her life in Canada. She was raised

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and on occasion created Catholic shrines in the abandoned lots of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

with her brother. Grant received a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

(BFA) in

from

Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1890, it has 5,928https://about.colum.edu/effectiveness/pdf/spring-2021-student-profile.pdf students pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergra ...

in 1996. She received a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

(MFA) from

Tyler School of Art The Tyler School of Art and Architecture is based at Temple University, a large, urban, public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Tyler currently enrolls about 1,350 undergraduate students and about 200 graduate students in a wid ...

in 1999. After completing her MFA, Grant completed a summer residency at Skowhagen School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhagen, Maine. From 2002-2003, she was an artist-in-residence at the

Studio Museum in Harlem The Studio Museum in Harlem is an American art museum devoted to the work of artists of African descent. The museum's galleries are currently closed in preparation for a building project that will replace the current building, located at 144 W ...

Work

Grant's works feature

fabulist Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular moral ...

narratives in painting and drawing. Amalgamating images from a variety of sources, ranging from comics to art historical reference books, she creates imagistic stories that investigate

cultural identity Cultural identity is a part of a person's identity, or their self-conception and self-perception, and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, locality or any kind of social group that has its own distinct cultur ...

, race and politics. Ranging from explosive flurries of color and collage to simpler compositions that address singular concepts, Grant explores within her work: "... e idea of constant information bombardment or the chaos in the back of our minds juxtaposed with what is happening physically in front of us."

Awards and fellowships

Deborah Grant was awarded the William H. Johnson Prize in 2011.

Selected exhibitions

Grant's work has been featured in exhibitions at numerous galleries and institutions including: * The

Drawing Center The Drawing Center is a Manhattan, New York, museum and a nonprofit exhibition space that focuses on the exhibition of drawings, both historical and contemporary. History The Drawing Center was founded by former assistant curator of drawings at ...

, New York, USA ''Christ You Know it Ain't Easy!!'' (2014) *Institute for Research in Art at the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

, Florida, USA ''Making Sense'' (2014) *

Berkeley Art Museum The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA, formerly abbreviated as BAM/PFA) are a combined art museum, repertory movie theater, and archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director from ...

, Berkeley, USA ''Deborah Grant: Bacon, Egg, Toast in Lard'' (2009) *

Contemporary Arts Museum Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is a not-for-profit institution in the Museum District, Houston, Texas, founded in 1948, dedicated to presenting contemporary art to the public. As a non-collecting museum, it strives to provide a forum for visual ...

, Houston, USA ''The Old Weird America'' (2008) * P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, USA ''Emergency Room Show'' (2007) * Alexandre Pollazzon Ltd, London, United Kingdom ''Welcome To My World'' (2007) * Esso Gallery, New York, USA ''Arte Povera Now and Then'' (2007) *

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

, Little Rock, USA ''Taking Possession'' (2007) * Roebling Hall, New York, USA ''a gin cure'' (2006) * Steve Turner Gallery, Beverly Hills, USA ''a gin cure'' (2006) * The

, New York, USA ''Freestyle'' (2001) *

Santa Monica Museum of Art The Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA), formerly known as the Santa Monica Museum of Art (SMMoA), is a contemporary art museum in Los Angeles, CA. As an independent and non-collecting art museum (or kunsthalle), it exhibits the ...

, Santa Monica, USA ''Freestyle'' (2001)

Collections

Grant's work is held in permanent collections including: * '' In the Land of the Blind the Blue Eye Man is King'', 2007,

Nasher Museum of Art The Nasher Museum of Art (previously the Duke University Museum of Art) is the art museum of Duke University, and is located on Duke's campus in Durham, North Carolina, United States. The Nasher, along with Dartmouth's Hood Museum of Art and Pr ...

, Durham, USA

References

External links

Deborah Grant at Steve Turner
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Deborah 1968 births African-American contemporary artists American contemporary painters American women artists Living people African-American painters 21st-century African-American artists 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American artists 20th-century African-American women African-American Catholics