About A Strange Child
Debi Ling has always had a unique way of seeing the world around her. Growing up in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, CA, she found herself being drawn more towards things that were odd, weird or absurd mostly because anything that was proclaimed to be “normal” was so……well…….boring. Her adoration for the works of artists such as Charles Addams, Edward Gorey, and Brian Froud would go on to influence some of her artwork, but most importantly it encouraged her to embrace The Whimsical. Always channeling her inner Alice in Wonderland curiosity, she developed a fascination with skulls, bats, fairies, and goblins.
Growing up as a Generation X-er, pop culture was her babysitter, and along with a geeky older brother , she found a sense of community in her obsessions with Star Wars, cartoons, sci-fi, fantasy, Disney, and all things cute yet evil. Relocating from So-Cal to the Bay Area in 2010, she took a leap, and in 2018 graduated with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts at San Francisco State University in Studio Art & Art History.
Here she found that her love of the Strange and Unusual was the voice she had always been searching for. Her work features bright cartoonish hues, satirical humor, and reflects aspects of her own dark sense of humor. Her style highlights the ways her heart reaches out for whatever is viewed as “ freakish” and instead offers it a clever grin and a hug. She takes the cheerful, vomit inducing rainbow filled optimism of Lisa Frank and flips it into a gleeful form of sarcastic pessimism.
Art is most importantly a therapeutic sword she wields, helping express her struggles with chronic depressions, anxiety, ADD, and to heal the wounds of past traumas. Her voice is fiercely progressive, made stronger by her intersectional feminist dogmas, and a deeply held belief in the only golden rule one should live by: Don’t be a Dick.
Here you can watch her work evolve and grow as she does. She’s currently focusing on illustrations, but her love of painting will always be her main attraction. Occasionally she’ll find the brain space to write something on her blog which you can find here too. Please take a look around and if you enjoy it, she knows for a fact that supporting an emerging artist is the best way one can get into Nirvana. (The afterlife, not the band, you silly)