Debra Scacco (b. 1976, New York) received a BA in Studio Art from Richmond University, London in 1998. Works by Debra Scacco in many ways attempt to find equilibrium between fundamentally opposing forces: controlled and organic, obsession and restraint, truth and fiction, obligation and desire. Often using language as a tool, Scacco explores the transient space in which we continually oscillate, perpetually attempting to maintain the most basic emotional needs: to love, to be loved, and simply to belong. In 2012, Scacco was the first Artist-in-Residence at the Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island Museum. Her most recent group exhibition (text)ure (Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London, 2012) explored the use of text in drawing as compositional medium, and included works by Carl Andre, Alighiero Boetti and Michael Landy. In 2010, her work featured alongside that of Tracey Emin and Michael Craig-Martin in the Royal Academy Summer Show (Royal Academy of Arts, London). In the same year, her work also featured alongside that of Sol LeWitt and Dennis Oppenheim in Outside the Lines, a survey of contemporary drawing at Royale Projects (Indian Wells, CA). In 2009, Scacco was nominated for the Jerwood Drawing Prize, the largest and longest running annual open exhibition for drawing in the UK. Scacco's solo exhibition Birds of Passage (Marine Contemporary, 2012) was reviewed in various publications including the Los Angeles Times, Beautiful/Decay and WhiteHot. Her work has also featured in ArtInfo and Art in America among others. After living in London for 16 years, Scacco recently relocated to live and work in Los Angeles.
