Alicia Degener

I am a Brooklyn based artist working primarily in pastel portraying the urban landscape of New York as well as my hometown Detroit, Michigan. I have embarked upon an exploration of the inner city by showing the barriers set before us in our everyday lives, often with a sense of ironic humor. In my work "Precinct", a defunct police precinct no longer protecting the neighborhood but surrounded by chain link and barbed wire to safeguard it from the neighborhood. "The Soul Saving Holy Church" portrays a church set forth to save the soul but stands as the lone building on a Detroit city block with bars on its windows. In my cityscapes, the natural world of trees shields the viewer and offers protection. The viewer becomes a bit voyeuristic, peering from beneath the veil of tree foliage, to spy upon a home made spooky by an inflatable Jack-O-Lantern in Halloween". Trees again give just enough protection from menacing dogs warning not to tread too closely, as they guard their lot in "Roof Dogs". Nature is also shown overpowering its cement enemy as grass repeatedly breaks through the streets and city blocks, returning to open fields in my Detroit pieces. Text often appears in my work to further support the juxtaposition of disparate notions. A factory that makes windows; our eye to the world, is ensconced in treacherous razor wire. The "O" in "Bowling Alley" is a bowling ball with a howling face before its inevitable collision. Recurring patterns, often of erector set simplicity, are depicted throughout my work; notable in my Coney Island series. Pastel is my favored medium allowing exploration of vibrant,bold colors almost unctuous in their intensity.