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Art in Focus: CSM graduate Debbie Lawson’s new exhibition at Rockefeller Center

In the foreground, a sculpture of a stag sits with its legs tucked underneath. The stag is made from a traditional carpet material. In the background, a lion also made from carpet is on display in a glass cabinet.
  • Written byEleanor Harvey
  • Published date 28 November 2023
In the foreground, a sculpture of a stag sits with its legs tucked underneath. The stag is made from a traditional carpet material. In the background, a lion also made from carpet is on display in a glass cabinet.
Art in Focus by Debbie Lawson, on display at the Rockefeller Center, New York City. | Photos by Daniel Greer, courtesy of Art Production Fund

Debbie Lawson has a new exhibition at the Rockefeller Center, New York. 'Art in Focus' is a site-specific exhibition which blurs the lines between two and three dimensions.

Debbie completed her BA Fine Art at Central Saint Martins, UAL in 2001. Her work explores the domestic interior, intertwining popular narratives and personal histories. She is often inspired by the cultural significance of everyday objects, where she challenges conventional perceptions of form.

Debbie Lawson stood next to one of her pieces. The artwork is in the shape of a lion formed out of carpet.
Art in Focus by Debbie Lawson, on display at the Rockefeller Center, New York City. | Photos by Daniel Greer, courtesy of Art Production Fund

Pieces on display include a mural mosaic of carpet imagery and wild animals such as stags, wild boars, deer, tigers and bears. Iconography within Debbie’s work references ancient animal motifs found in traditional carpets and comes from her careful study of patterns within nature and the built environment.

She's also drawn inspiration from the architecture of Rockefeller Center. Lee Lawrie’s Arms of England features 3 gilded lions which appear above 50th street entrance to 620 Fifth Avenue of the centre. Debbie animates the lions so that they appear to be creeping out of the carpets.

It has been an absolute pleasure to make works specifically for Rockefeller Center, and I was immediately drawn to the idea of letting three lions loose to ‘roam’ the corridors. I hope the murals will provide a wild backdrop and give some context to the three lion sculptures and the pair of three-dimensional stags in the lobbies.

— Debbie Lawson, Artist

Art in Focus is on at the Rink Level of 45 Rockefeller Plaza until Friday 19 January 2024

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