Debora Koo

Koo’s oil paintings encompass a wide range of subject matters and styles. However, if there is one thread that pulls her work together it is the idea of responding to and expressing emotions and experiences through painting. She draws inspiration ...

Koo’s oil paintings encompass a wide range of subject matters and styles. However, if there is one thread that pulls her work together it is the idea of responding to and expressing emotions and experiences through painting. She draws inspiration from mundane events, media, human desire, motivation, apathy, and helplessness. The banality of the images depicted, sometimes in bright, saturated colors and other times faded and pale, become surrogate self-portraits, memories, and hopeful futures. This can take the form of a carefully staged still life representing identity, appropriated media images of idealized love and romantic relationships, or food that can give a sense of belonging, physical satisfaction, or contrarily an invitation for discomfort and sweet temptations.