inside the artist's studio
ANNE DEON
--Biography--
Originally from NYC, Anne Deon has benefitted from and added to the art scenes in Manhattan, Los Angeles and has become known for her vividly colored, large scale oil paintings of iconic and archetypal figures, she has enjoyed recognition on both sides of the country. Now, being bi-coastal - Deon is currently preparing for a retrospective exhibition of her work at the Coral Springs Museum of Art in May 2012, With her current move into the Miami art market, Deon is introducing her latest series of paintings entitled: BWHAHAHHAH....TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER. These are seminal works that look to the future of Neo Pop art and Street Art of the past decades. It is a playful series of works with light bulbs and bright, bold new characters, conceptually building on the past while looking into the future. Ms. Deon's Ancestor and Ghost series, inspired by the art of primitive societies worldwide, but especially the Incan, Mayan, Toltec and Aztec cultures of South and Central America, has led her into the realm of Alien representation depicted in the iconography of the BWAHAHAHAHHA....TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER paintings and constructions.
In the late 1970s, after completing art school, she joined the movement of artists who were at the center of the emerging punk rock-art rock scene in downtown Manhattan. There, she participated in several group shows, exhibiting her oil paintings as well as Super 8 film projects. At this time, she also achieved recognition as a Performance Artist, appearing in a wide range of downtown Manhattan clubs, galleries and artists lofts.
As art and music intermingled in the early 1980s New York scene--spawning bands such as Blondie, the Ramones and Patti Smith--Anne joined The Alan Vega Band, an avant-garde art band that had a large cult following among intellectuals, artists and rebels, especially in Europe. During most of the 1980s, she recorded for Elektra Records and toured extensively in Europe with the Alan Vega Band. At the same time, she began working in earnest on her ongoing Heroes, Outlaws, Angels & Rebels painting series.
Since moving to Los Angeles in the early 1990s, Anne has moved into increasingly conceptual work. In addition to her large-scale abstracts, she continues to add to her ongoing Impolites and Heroes, Outlaws, Angels and Rebels as well as the Ancestors & Ghost series
But the most current series capturing Ms. Deon’s focus and creative energy now is the Ancestors and Ghost series, and the highly conceptual as well as amusing Neo Pop series: BWAHAHAHAH.....TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER.
She has been featured in several Art exhibitions throughout Southern California, including the New Millennium Armory Show at the David Geffen Center for APLA, a show she also curated.
Anne Deon was born and raised in New York City. She attended Richmond College, an affiliate of the City University of New York, where she graduated with a B.F.A.
TV EXPOSURE: Deon’s paintings have been featured on the network TV shows: ER, THE KING OF QUEENS, and VERONICA’S CLOSET.
Upcoming RETROSPECTIVE OF ANNE DEON'S ART IN THE CORAL SPRINGS ART MUSEUM set for May 12, 2012
Art Exhibitions in Los Angeles and Manhattan
Katalyst Foundation for the Arts, Los Angeles
Dale Youngman Gallery, Los Angeles
Santa Monica Airport Hangar Gallery, Los Angeles
UrbanArtbyDesign Gallery, Los Angeles
Create-Fixate. Los Angeles
Don O’Melveny Gallery, Los Angeles
Lacy Primitive & Fine Art gallery, Los Angeles
The New Millenium Armory Show at the David Geffen Center for APLA (AIDS PROJECT LOS ANGELES)
Charles Aidicoff Screening Room at William Morris Agency, Los Angeles.
British Lime Gallery (the Artists' Village in Santa Ana)
Holly Matter Gallery, Los Angeles
Desmond Gallery, Los Angeles
Hartog Fine Art Gallery, Los Angeles
The KITCHEN, Manhattan
Project of Living Artists, Manhattan
QUANDO , Manhattan
Times Square Show, Manhattan
Neo Persona Gallery, Manhattan
Among the varied collectors of Ms. Deon's art are:
Richard Seaver, Chairman of the Los Angeles Opera. The Seaver family has been a friend and generous benefactor to the arts in California as well as to Pepperdine University. Mr. Seaver has been on the Board of Directors of Cal. Arts, and is a well respected member of the community.
David Maurer, of the Maurer Family Foundation, a foundation which supports the arts in various capacities, most recently at the Norton Simon Museum, and the Getty in Los Angeles. Gilbert and Anne Maurer have a gallery in the Whitney Musuem of American Art named for them in honor of their patronage.
Jeff de Joseph, Vice Chairman of Doremus Public Relations and Advertising Agency in NYC
Alan Vega, sculptor and avante garde musician, he is presently working on a monumental light sculpture to stand in front of the Cartier Foundation in Paris.
The Warner Bros. Television Drama: ER, has purchased two of Ms. Deon's paintings and they enhance one of their swing sets used regularly. Also the TV show: King Of Queens has used 5 abstracts and the Statue of Liberty painting for a recurring set depicting a Manhattan Law Firm.