J E A N N E T T E D E B O N N E

J E A N N E T T E D E B O N N E

J E A N N E T T E D E B O N N E

The viewer of Jeannette Debonne’s paintings is immediately struck by the richly textured fresco-like surface, and the mysterious calligraphic inscriptions that adorn that surface. This is a process that begins with a compound that is applied to the canvas, then deeply incised, and followed by the addition of color, and finally the dark charcoal and graphite characters. The entire method is intuitive and emotional, not conceptual. Debonne’s paintings are perhaps best related to Cy Twombly in the presence of the hard gestural marks and glyphs, to Helen Frankenthaler in the fluidity of the underpainting, and to Roberto Matta in the treatment of space and depth. There is a mystery that lies at the core of Jeannette Debonne’s paintings. We are presented with a text of ostensibly meaningful signs, not unlike being confronted with a wall painting from a prehistoric age. The compelling question is one of sense and intention. Relative to the execution of the artworks, in the Sartrean sense, their “existence precedes their essence.” There is never a plan enacted upon the canvas. Rather, it is attacked with wild gestures and explosively physical movements. Thus, the lexicon of seeming symbols grows as a result of the process. Although their meaning is neither foreseen nor discursive, they are far from vacuous. The artwork has now become a highly evocative object, ready for th eviewer to finish. There is much about Jeannette Debonne’s art that beckons the viewer. The texture is sensual and alluring. Reminiscent of old earthen walls,

there is an almost automatic, unthinking desire to reach out and run fingers over the deeply scored surface. The scars themselves compound

the mystery; color heightens the sense of the ephemeral and the mythic. Hue typically coalesces in one or two significant areas. Reds, blues,

and browns dominate, and range from a heavy concentration to a spreading mist. The effect is eerily atmospheric. In this fantastic space, some

of the objects are in immediate propinquity, others recede. There is a sense of suspended amorphous entities.

Debonne has also created a technique for ‘bracketing’ the composition. Once again, this innovation was born from sheer intuitive improvisation. It manifests in the form of a ‘window’ built into the image, a frame of straight lines and right angles that functions to focus the viewer’s eye, and to define a boundary within which the viewer may interact with the composition.

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(continued from the previous page) Jeannette Debonne creates in utter sincerity, and with passion. Debonne's aim could be said to be twofold in nature. The first is something of a throwback, because it is simply to create artworks of beauty. In the post-modern world, a wedge has been driven between art and beauty, so that artists have become alienated and estranged from the aesthetic quest. Debonne has returned to an earlier notion, one in which art is necessarily a search for the beautiful. Secondly, she wishes to create artworks that are evocative. Her art is neither message-oriented nor didactic. There is no particular concept or notion that has to be grasped, nor is there a proper interpretation. The works are simply there to be experienced. Indeed, the viewer is a part sine qua non of the process, for the artwork is not completely meaningful until the viewer has experienced and reacted to it. And for their cathexis, for their contribution, they gain something. As the artist says, “The purpose of art is to indemnify the spirit of the viewer.” The viewer’s compensation is bestowed when they simply use the painting as a gateway to the mystery. Art is, at its base, expression. It is the expression of our deepest secrets and feelings. Thus, each artwork is autobiographical. But it can be more. If Montaigne was right, in that we carry within ourselves the condition of all mankind, then to imbue artworks with our most keenly felt emotions is to speak to them in the language that is most essentially human. This is what Jeannette Debonne does. She creates visual poetry that is born of her trials, her conflicts, and her triumphs. In this, she shows us something about ourselves. When asked about the advice she would give the viewer of her artworks, she replied simply, “Look, and feel.”

Douglas Deaver, Ph.D.

Alleluia 72 x 84 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $12,000.

4.

Restless Sea 72 x 84 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $12,000.

5.

Love Light 66 x 76 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $11,000.

6.

Tapestry 66 x 66 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $10,000.

7.

Secrets 60 x 60 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $8,500.

8.

Fires of Eden III 60 x 48 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $8,000.

9.

What If 48 x 48 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $7,500.

10.

Sea Poem 48 x 48 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $7,500.

11.

The Wind that Shakes the Barley 70 x 66 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $10,500.

12.

Kailua Morning 66 x 72 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $11,000.

13.

Tide Pool 48 x 66 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $8,000.

14.

Acoma 60 x 76 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $10,000.

15.

Whispers 60 x 74 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $10,000.

16.

Bachiana Brasileira 60 x 76 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $10,000.

17.

St. Non’s Well 60 x 72 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $10,000.

18.

Affair of The Heart 66 x 70 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $10,500.

19.

Barcarolle 48 x 60 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $8,000.

20.

Silk Road 64 x 94 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $11,500.

21.

Iquitos 60 x 72 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $9,500.

22.

Delia’s Gone 57 x 68 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $9,000.

23.

Paris 1960 60 x 48 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $8,000.

24.

Birnam Wood 60 x 66 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $9,500.

25.

Birnam Wood II 66 x 66 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $10,000.

26.

Cantata 76 x 60 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $10,000.

27.

Crossing The Tsangpo 50 x 76 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $9,000.

28.

Jubilation 72 x 84 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $12,000.

29.

Creation Myth 72 x 84 in. Mixed Media on Canvas $12,000.

30.

Ancestral Message III Image: 15.5 x 15.5 in. / Paper: 41.5 x 29.5 in. Hand Embellished Monotype $1,700.

31.

Heart Aflame IV Image: 15.75 x 23.75 in. / Paper: 22 x 30 in. Monotype $1,800.

32.

Spirit Window II Image: 15.5 x 15.5 in. / Paper: 29.5 x 22.5 in. Monotype $1,500.

33.

Spirit Window III Image: 16 x 16 in. / Paper: 30 x 22 in. Hand Embellished Monotype $1,600.

34.

Alfredo’s Harp I Image: 20 x 16 in. / Paper: 30 x 22 in. Monotype $1,750.

35.

A Brief History of Time Image: 22 x 33 in. / Paper: 29 x 40.5 in. Monotype $1,950.

36.

Ancestral Message II Image: 15.5 x 15.5 in. / Paper: 41.5 x 29.5 in. Monotype $1,600.

37.

Reiteration Image: 23.5 x 18 in. / Paper: 41.5 x 29.5 in. Embossed Monotype $1,950.

38.

The Garden Image: 23.25 x 24 in. / Paper: 39 x 29.5 in. Monotype $1,600.

39.

Taliesin’s Harp Image: 22 x 33 in. / Paper: 29.5 x 41.5 in. Monotype $1,950.

40.

Sevillana III Image: 22 x 33 in. / Paper: 29.5 x 40.5 in. Monotype $1,950.

41.

Mt. San Jacinto Image: 15.75 x 16 in. / Paper: 30 x 22.5 in. Embossed Monotype $1,600.

42.

Heart’s Desire Image: 23.5 x 23.75 in. / Paper: 33 x 29.5 in. Monotype $1,900.

43.

Ancestral Dream Image: 10 x 8.75 in. / Paper: 30 x 22.5 in. Hand Embellished Monotype $1,250.

44.

Incantation Image: 23.5 x 18 in. / Paper: 39.5 x 26 in. Embossed Monotype $1,800.

45.

Spirit Window IV Image: 15.75 x 15.5 in. / Paper: 29.75 x 22.5 in. Monotype $1,500.

46.

Night Song Image: 8.75 x 17.75 in. / Paper: 22.5 x 29.5 in. Embossed Monotype $1,350.

47.

Ocean Floor I Image: 8.75 x 10 in. / Paper: 22 x 17.5 in. Monotype $1,100.

48.

Ocean Floor II Image: 8.75 x 10 in. / Paper: 22 x 17.5 in. Monotype $1,100.

49.

Ancestral Message Image: 15.5 x 15.75 in. / Paper: 38 x 23.75 in. Hand Embellished Monotype $1,600.

50.

Vivaldi’s Fancy Image: 21.75 x 33 in. / Paper: 29 x 40.5 in. Monotype $1,950.

51.

Alfredo’s Harp II Image: 19.75 x 15.75 in. / Paper: 29.5 x 22 in. Monotype $1,750.

52.

Alfredo’s Harp III Image: 19.75 x 15.75 in. / Paper: 30 x 22 in. Monotype $1,850.

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J E A N N E T T E D E B O N N E

EDUCATION

University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Degrees in Painting, Sculpture, and Graphic Arts

Studied under: William Brice, John Paul Jones, Jan Stussy, Sam Amato SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

Miranda International, Laguna Beach, CA Learsi Gallery, Palm Desert, CA Valerie Miller Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA Aaron Aubrey Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Gallery Vander Woude, Palm Springs, CA Riverside Library, Riverside, CA Miranda Galleries, Aspen, CO Retrospective Gallery, La Jolla, CA Dorosha Piry Gallery, Rancho Mirage, CA Kolenich & Lucas Gallery, Palm Desert, CA Miranda Galleries, Laguna Beach, CA FACT Contemporary Exhibition Space, Laguna Beach, CA ART/Beasley Gallery, San Diego, CA

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

Gallery Hyna, Munich, Germany Valerie Miller Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA Saint Paul’s Cathedral, San Diego, CA ART/Beasely Gallery, San Diego, CA Mokotoff Gallery, New York, NY Riverside Art Center and Museum, Riverside, CA (continued on the following page)

(Selected Group Exhibitions continued) Santuario de Guadalupe, Santa Fe, NM Fowler Mills Gallery, Santa Monica, CA Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA Whaletail International Exhibition, Nairobi, Kenya Gallery Vander Woude, Palm Springs, CA Palm Desert Gallery, Palm Desert, CA Miranda Galleries, Laguna Beach, CA Desert Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA Gallery G, Costa Mesa, CA Retrospective Gallery, La Jolla, CA Biennial Competition, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA Concordia University, Irvine, CA Blue Mountain Gallery, New York, NY

SELECTED CORPORATE & PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Xerox corporation, Honolulu, HI Mitsubishi Corporation, Cambridge, MA Michigan State University, Lansing, MI Mercedes Benz of North America, Chicago, IL Bixby Development Corporation, Los Angeles, CA Pepsi Cola Corporation, Seattle, WA Great Western Savings & Loan, Beverly Hills, CA Reditab Incorporated, Rome, Italy Home Federal Savings & Loan, San Diego, CA

SELECTED COMMISSIONS

Xerox Corporation, Honolulu, HI Church of St. Paul in the Desert, Palm Springs, CA Michigan State University, Lansing, MI Bixby Development Corporation, Los Angeles, CA Pepsi Cola Corporation, Seattle, WA

R E V U F I N E A R T

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