FINDINGS
Introduction, by Grahame Weinbren
Dennis Haggerty, Curator
Bannister Gallery
November 30 - December 22, 1995
Rhode Island College, Providence, RI
from "Introduction to FINDINGS" by Grahame S. Weinbren
Consider the layering that is the conceptual center of
Clay Debevoise's images. Each word in any single image is composed of
same-colored letters, and as one particular word is deciphered, the space
of the image reorganizes itself, the recognized word assuming a definite
plane in the now illusionary space. Often the readable word "rises" to
the surface-though sometimes it remains two or three layers back, as a
result of the strange laws that govern the effect on the human visual
apparatus of color, of sharpness (or its lack), and of brightness and
intensity. 
One turns one's attention to another set of identically colored marks, and when they form letters, then a word, in the process of assuming a different, but equally definite plane, the space has changed and the first word becomes lost again in the illusionary depths. In this way a sentence emerges, partly out of the picture, partly out of the viewer's short term memory. Perhaps it addresses the viewer/reader: "Don't be stupid."
Perhaps it is an unsentimental statement of an intense
biographical detail: "Dad is dead." 
Or it could be a cry of frustration
about the current artistic climate: "Why can't I EVER MOVE you?" The process
of negotiating through the shifting layers of material, leading to the
shock of discovery of a sentence, is a strong experience.
And it teaches a way of seeing.
Debevoise's work, looked at through an art historical
filter, takes us first to graffiti then to Abstract Expressionism. The
signs (in the sense of signature) of the graffiti writers, and the multiple
indications of their presence, assert the presence and threat of the invisible,
powerless, underprivileged youth. "I am here," the graffiti enables its
creator to say, "even if you wish I wasn't." The exaggerated reaction
of the authorities to the often beautiful graffiti confirms this interpretation.
Debevoise's work also lets the artist say "I am here" (sometimes almost
literally), in this world of too many images, too much art, in a decade
where the distinction between artists and non-artists is being deeply
challenged by the tools of technology. 
How can a younger artist assert
his presence as an artist? Though that is hardly a new problem, it has
been exacerbated by the emergence of computer tools.
On the other hand, the fact that Debevoise's images have the gestural look of abstract expressionism ties him to another, earlier decade, when art-making was most explicitly a record of the actions of the artist. In Abstract Expressionism, meaning is almost incidental, a side effect. Here we see an abstract expressionist effect for the purpose of producing meaning, along with the perversity of using a computer interface as a means of recording the artist's gestural input.
Considering Debevoise's working process brings to mind
the control over every aspect of an image that is a given when images
are created by means of a computer. With this in mind, 
we re-examine his
color choices, the width and edge-quality of his line, the chalkiness
of some letters and inkiness of others. Now another level of meaning emerges.
The words have colors, weights, textures. In each case a deliberate choice
was made by the artist, and this idea can lead to a series of speculative
readings by the viewer. The dullness of some words, the brightness of
others, the harmonies and discords between colors and backgrounds-all
this contributes to a semantics. Debevoise's achievement becomes remarkable
in a different way...