Bridgehampton Museum Presents a Deep Dive Into Debbie Ma’s Visual Language

The Bridgehampton Museum is presenting “The Language of Surface: Paintings by Debbie Ma,” a new solo exhibition that highlights the artist’s tactile approach to contemporary abstraction. The show opened with a reception on December 6 at the historic Nathaniel Rogers House.

Ma’s work explores an intentionally limited visual vocabulary built from abstracted forms — some geometric, others suggestive of textiles, typography or letter-like shapes. Her paintings feature textured surfaces that create a sense of physical and optical energy. Viewers are invited to “enter into the typography of her paintings and journey through them,” according to art critic and curator Barbara A. MacAdam.

Color plays a structural role throughout the exhibition. In monochrome works, subtle surface variations demand close attention, while in others, sharp contrasts deepen a sense of spatial movement. Some pieces use a wider range of hues to open up layered, interwoven spaces. Across all the paintings, color supports Ma’s emphasis on form and texture.

“We see Ma as a builder — sculptor and architect,” MacAdam writes. “She constructs and deconstructs her letter-like shapes, establishing an elegant alphabet of shapes and signs.”

MacAdam, who has served as an editor for ARTnews, Art and Auction, Review: Latin American Literature and Arts and New York Magazine, writes regularly for the Brooklyn Rail and Art and Object.

“The Language of Surface: Paintings by Debbie Ma” will be on view through December 30 at the Bridgehampton Museum’s Nathaniel Rogers House, 2539 Montauk Highway, Bridgehampton. Hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, visit bridgehamptonmuseum.org.