Art in Focus: Debbie Lawson at Rockefeller Center at Rockefeller Center

Rockefeller Center and Art Production Fund continue their Art in Focus partnership with a public art presentation by United Kingdom based artist Debbie Lawson, Lawson’s first exhibition in New York. The exhibition will be on display throughout the Rockefeller Center campus from November 20, 2023 through January 19, 2024.

Lawson’s work navigates the domestic interior, seamlessly intertwining popular narratives and personal histories. Her creations, often inspired by the cultural significance of everyday objects, challenge conventional perceptions of form. For Lawson’s Art in Focus exhibition, she drew inspiration from the architecture of Rockefeller Center. Inspired by Lee Lawrie's Arms of England, the three gilded lions which appear above the 50th street entrance to 620 Fifth Avenue at Rockefeller Center, Lawson has created site specific works for the vitrines at 45 Rockefeller Plaza. In the vitrine spaces, the three royal lions become animated, creeping out from their carpets like animals in the woods.

Located at the Rink Level of 45 Rockefeller Plaza, the 125ft concourse features a mural mosaic of carpet imagery and wild animals including stags, wild boars, deer, tigers, and bears. Iconography within Lawson's work references ancient animal motifs found in traditional carpets and comes from the artist's careful study of patterns within nature and the built environment. The works offer a mesmerizing visual experience, blurring the lines between two and three dimensions.

As viewers wander through the spaces filled with carpet camouflaged wild animal imagery, Lawson hopes they become main characters within her artistic presentation, embracing the adventure of uncovering hidden, sometimes strange or darker, meanings within. Created specifically for Lawson’s Art In Focus exhibition, stag sculptures will also be on view at 45 Rockefeller Center and 30 Rockefeller Center lobbies.

The Art in Focus program at Rockefeller Center, presented in partnership with Art Production Fund, presents the work of artists who are exploring and reinterpreting materials as a way to capture the human experience. A selection of painters, sculptures, photographers and more, these artists use materials in innovative ways to offer a closer look at the unique characteristics of people, objects and elements that are found in their daily lives.