Opening Reception

Debi Pendell’s works are investigations of semiotics, language, and meaning based in the format of landscape painting. Concentrating on abstract elements of recognizable shapes and characters in combination with materials and processes, Pendell plays with symbols of both visual art and language and how people “read” them and make meaning from them.

Letters, numbers, math equations and such are used abstractly, serving as value, texture, pattern and spatial indicators. Trees, birds, circles, and other images are used as abstract symbols in the same way.

Often viewers mistake Pendell’s works for encaustic, however only acrylic gels and mediums are used. She bases her paintings in collage and employs painting, drawing, and mixed media. Layers of the clear acrylic encaustic-like treatment embed the collage elements within layers of the various processes and materials.