Giving Life to the Community
Artists
Deborah Oropallo:
Deborah Oropallo was born in Hackensack, NJ and received her MFA and BFA from the University of California, Berkeley. Oropallo's works are included in numerous museum collections including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. How To, a recent traveling career retrospective of her work, was organized by the San Jose Museum of Art and recently completed its tour at the Palm Springs Desert Museum. Oropallo is represented by Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco.
In her recent Wirtz Gallery exhibition titled Replica, Oropallo demonstrated her commitment to pushing the boundaries of the definition of painting by presenting innovative photographic-based and digitally rendered canvases. This process was used in creating her project for "Hearts in SF":
"I wanted to make a heart that would not just be decorative, but somehow be relevant to what is going on in San Francisco today. The list of same-sex names represents some of the 4,161 gay marriages that took place in 29 days, and has now become an important part of our city's history. The names were done on my computer and printed on canvas with a digital permanent pigment printer. At the center of the heart and the literal focal point are the names of Del Martin, 83, and Phyllis Lyon, 79, who were the first couple to get married on Feb 12. The names fade out away from the center like a drop of water in the middle and its ripple effect. I was extremely happy that the heart was appropriately placed on the spot where these marriages took place.
"We have always had same-sex love. And some of the names reflect that. Love between a mother and daughter, a father and son, between brothers and friends, etc. So I don't think it should be so hard to imagine."
