Sur L'herbe

About Sur L'herbe

This contemporary figurative oil painting explores themes of politics and culture.

Deborah Root’s dynamic colourful compositions tell an intimate story about her experience during socially relevant and politically important moments in time.

“This painting depicts a summer cottage visit with friends. Although everyone is enjoying their time in the countryside, the social world is fractured -- not because there’s an actual problem, but because we were inhabiting space without connecting. One plays croquet by himself, one reads, one daydreams.
The background is schematic, with forest and sky fragmented, disappearing and reappearing in unexpected places.
Although this painting expresses social dislocation, as I worked on it I wondered if perhaps inhabiting space at the same time is connection enough. Or maybe the problem is more personal—I tend to be irritable, as you can see from the self-portrait at the bottom of the painting. The title derives from Manet's Dejeuner sur l'herbe, a painting I have always felt was about a kind of gendered, social dislocation.” Deborah Root

Deborah Root is a painter, writer, lecturer and professor. She has written extensively on the relationship between visual arts and cultural politics. Root was born in Seattle and attended university in Canada before settling here. She acquired both her BA and MA in Archeology and Anthropology at Canadian universities and finally a PH.D. from the Graduate Program in Social and Political Thought at York University. Her 1996 book entitled ‘Cannibal Culture’ was included in a 2017 Buzzfeed list (digital media company) of the 16 books to read to understand white supremacy in the United States. She has taught at several Canadian universities and has sat on the boards of a number of Toronto-based art and political magazines. Deborah Root has exhibited her paintings in both solo and group shows in Canada, the U.S. and Europe since 2017.