Debi Grupe Bio
Debi Grupe's unique work in drawing, monotype prints, sculpture, photography and painting is art which is effortlessly in touch with daily human emotions and feelings.
To quote artist Kiki Smith: "Some people think or expect that you should make the same kind of art forever because it creates a convenient narrative... I want my work to embody my inherent contradictions."
Even though Debi had progressed as an artist in printmaking, she found that confining herself to one medium was limiting.
Her fascination with the abstract artists of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, such as Eva Hesse, the de Koonings, Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly and others, along with her passion for repurposing materials rather than discarding them as waste, led her to explore mixed media.
Debi skillfully uses found objects, magazine photos, fabrics and various other materials along with observation, memory and interpretation to translate her love of the unusual and unique pairings of material into multi media pieces that effortlessly connect with daily human emotions, and experiences.
Debi's work has exhibited in galleries in Canada, the United States, Australia, and Kuwait, where she has been acquired by many private collectors from around the world.
She has been honored to have her work selected for Vancouver’s Holt Renfrew, the Vancouver Law Courts on Robson St., Vancouver Television’s greenroom, the T.V. pilots Kat Plus 1 and News Beyond the Edge, X-Men 2, a Fox Movie Production and Fantastic Four, a Major Motion Picture.
Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, her family moved to Vancouver when she was just 2 years old. Debi lived in Vancouver until 2010, when she moved to the U.S, where she lived in Washington State, Arizona and finally Palm Springs, California, where she currently resides.