Debra Sachs recent

Though she works primarily as a sculptor, Debra was trained as a painter and maintains an ongoing fascination with two-dimensional representations of space. She is consistently drawn to how an object occupies space as well as the illusion of space. Many years ago she visited the Morgan Library in New York City to see an exhibition of medieval manuscripts. Almost all the images incorporated checkered backgrounds in blue and gold. She was fascinated that these backgrounds, meant to represent empty space, were created with solid patterns. For many years after the Morgan Library exhibit, she intermittently created paintings in modified checkered patterns combining a metallic color with a black or dark color. Object design (the shape of an object) and surface design are the two main elements that make up her sculpture. For the better part of the last twenty years the surface design, or what she calls the skin, was achieved through the application of various tactile materials such as sand, metal, twine, wire, and washers. Her latest sculpture introduces her interest in illusion to the three dimensional form. These works are tiered forms reminiscent of pyramids and columns. They are fabricated from wood and their surfaces are intricately painted in varying checkered fashion. Here she explores ideas about space as both subject and object.

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