The Deborah Scott Art Manifesto
The Full Story Doesn’t Exist—And That’s the Point.
Preface
This manifesto isn’t a critique of what art should be—it’s a clear articulation of what my own work demands. I have deep respect for many approaches to painting, including those grounded in tradition, clarity, or beauty for its own sake. But for me, the work has always insisted on something else: friction, tension, contradiction.
The paintings don’t begin in my imagination—they begin in conversation, trust, and shared experience. The process of listening and revealing is not separate from the art—it is the art. The painting is what remains after something true has been exchanged.
This document captures the lens through which I create, question, and return to the canvas. It’s not a prescription. It’s a position.
I. Clarity Isn’t Enough
Art doesn’t need to soothe. It can destabilize just enough to shift perception. Likeness may be present—but it’s not the goal. Truth rarely wears a perfect face.
II. Technique Is a Tool
Draftsmanship is a means, not a measure. Mastery exists to serve meaning, not declare it.
III. The Frame Is Never Neutral
Context—gallery, museum, caption, lighting, even Instagram—always shapes meaning. But the painting itself is a frame. It can only hold a fragment of what’s known or felt. I use abstraction to point to what exceeds the surface—what was learned, but can’t possibly fit in pigment.
IV. Every Image Is a Decision
There is no neutrality in what’s shown or omitted. Each composition is a constructed argument. Let the viewer interrogate your choices.
V. Ambiguity Is Constructive
A painting isn’t finished when it resolves a question. It’s finished when it provokes a better one.
VI. The Full Story Doesn’t Exist
Don’t pretend it does. That’s the lie of polished narratives. The work isn’t fragmented—it’s built to contain what can’t be known. Abstracted space, visual disruption, and ambiguity aren’t accidents; they’re structural. This is the Johari Window in paint: what’s seen, what’s hidden, what others sense, and what remains unknowable—even to the maker.
VII. Beauty Needs Friction
For me, beauty must hold something unresolved—a splinter, a shadow, a resistance to full assimilation.
VIII. Emotion Is Not Sentimentality
To feel deeply is not to be indulgent. Emotional resonance is rigor—when it’s earned, not staged.
IX. The Artist Is Present, Always
Even in representation, the artist remains. Every choice reflects the maker, even in absence.
X. Make the Work Anyway
Not because it’s whole. Not because it will be liked. Because it insists on being made.
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Deborah Scott, 2025 This framework is evolving. But the foundation stands.
