{"id":624677,"date":"2026-09-14T20:02:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T20:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/624677\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T20:02:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T20:02:14","slug":"in-ascent-debra-baxter-explores-the-power-in-vulnerability-mysticism-and-time-colossal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/624677\/","title":{"rendered":"In ‘Ascent,’ Debra Baxter Explores the Power in Vulnerability, Mysticism, and Time \u2014 Colossal"},"content":{"rendered":"

From elemental materials like alabaster, quartz, garnet, and bronze, Debra Baxter<\/a> assembles jewel-like sculptures<\/a> that explore consciousness, nature, anatomy, and spirituality. For her most recent body of work on view now in Ascent at Roq La Rue<\/a>, the artist meanders into a more mystical side of history, infused with a tinge of punk and, somewhat paradoxically, a meditative calm.<\/p>\n

Baxter contracted Covid in January 2022 that progressed into long Covid, during which she spent more time recuperating than being able to work with the heavy-duty equipment and materials characteristic of her practice. The sculptures on view in this show were initiated five years ago. However, her period of recovery, which she describes as a blessing, revealed an unexpected new direction. As she rested, she began to receive visions that confounded her sense of space, both physically and metaphysically.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>\u201cAscent (Pamela),\u201d alabaster and bronze, 20 x 10 x 7 inches<\/p>\n

Human hearts effervesce with crystals, such as in \u201cThe Day I Tried to Live\u201d and \u201cFade Into You.\u201d On one hand, these could be read as some kind of emotional or biological calcification. On another, these gleaming growths might represent a spilling forth of the spirit made tangible. \u201cFade Into You\u201d consists of a hinge, allowing the work to become \u201copen-hearted\u201d but also to shut away its gleaming energy.<\/p>\n

Baxter also uses materials derived from the earth that are explicitly solid, evoking an intimate tension between vulnerability and strength, the fleeting and the permanent. And in her smaller-than-life-size alabaster busts, she portrays women in an aesthetic representation historically granted to men. \u201cThe women depicted in these sculptures are trying to maintain higher consciousness, but keep fracturing and falling apart,\u201d Baxter says. \u201cThey stem from my love of the history of sculptures from Greek busts to Bernini, and my interest in the innate truth of materials, and my ongoing belief in the power and intuition of woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pieces like \u201cVeil\u201d nod to the nature of seeing and awareness while also acknowledging the thinness of the boundary between our world and the next. \u201cLife had a certain amount of permeability in a more spiritual and profound way than before, and she began to feel as if she started to embody the mystical concepts she had been researching,\u201d the gallery says.<\/p>\n

Ascent continues through October 3. See more on Baxter\u2019s Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>Open view of \u201cFade into You,\u201d bronze and quartz crystal, 6 x 6 x 4 inches<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>Closed view of \u201cFade into You\u201d<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>\u201cCrack,\u201d alabaster, quartz crystal, and wood, 21 x 10 x 10 inches<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>\u201cThe Day I Tried to Live (For Brad),\u201d bronze, jade, and quartz crystals, 6 x 4 x 5 inches<\/p>\n

\"an<\/a>\u201cSpill,\u201d alabaster and steel, 6 x 10 x 5 inches<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>\u201cVeil,\u201d alabaster and Valencian lace cast in bronze, 10 x 11 x 7 inches<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>Front view of \u201cWe Love You,\u201d garnet and bronze, 5 x 3 x 3 inches<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>Reverse view of \u201cWe Love You\u201d<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>\u201cAnchor,\u201d bronze, smoky quartz, and epoxy clay, 8 x 5 x 4 inches<\/p>\n

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