Interview
Lisa Gizara
Lisa Gizara’s work captures the duality of expression between her mysterious black and white photos, and the explosive abstract paintings she produces. Massive in scope and filled with serene, haunting images of nature and architecture, Gizara’s photography has a pure and somber photojournalistic tone that carries across series.
Her energetic, expressive and liberated paintings hearken back to abstract expressionism. They have been shown in Portugal, California, and the Venice Art Walk. Her photographs have been shown in exhibitions at the SFO Museum, The Annenberg Space for Photography, and the G2 Gallery in Venice.
Gizara’s paintings and photographs have graced the sets of Inventing Anna, Mad Men, The Kaminsky Method, Steven Soderberg’s Mosaic, Modern Family, and Ray Donovan. Actors Bruce Dern and Jennifer Lawrence have her work in their private collections, and her portfolio was included the 2014 Oscar Nominee Gift Bags.
Gizara works out of Santa Monica, California.
Image courtesy of Karen Ballard.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I grew up in a small New England town. Enamored by the vibrant colors of the seasons, I was transfixed by clouds and mesmerized by thunderstorms. I spent summer days daydreaming in lush farmer’s fields and was transfixed by the dancing of sunlight on water. My mom is very aware of beauty and taught me how to see these things.
I attended art school and received my BFA from the University of Massachusetts in South Dartmouth. My earliest work was influenced by the romantic realist, and Hudson River School painter, George Inness. After attending a retrospective of his work at New York’s Metropolitan Museum, his paintings left me breathless and dedicated to capturing the beauty and mystery of nature. Discovering the dreamlike yet turbulent paintings of artists William Turner and James McNeill Whistler also influenced me greatly. Moving to Los Angeles in the late ’80s, the verticality of Beachwood Canyon and vastness of the Pacific Ocean radically changed my interpretation of nature. I have been painting abstractly ever since.”
What inspires you most?
“Since I placed my first stroke of paint on a canvas, I have been inspired by the search for the mysterious in the mundane. My photography has followed a similar path. After photographing landscapes in a traditional way, I discovered the unexpected and painterly aspects of using black and white infrared film. Just as I never know how one of my paintings is going to reveal itself, capturing the infrared spectrum is always a surprise. Each time I shoot, the resulting image is a wonderful discovery; a mysterious visual treasure hunt.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“I don’t have any themes in mind when I paint. When I photograph landscapes, I’m looking for unexpected beauty. My creative process is something that I channel; something that flows through me from a higher source. My job as an artist is to get out of the way and let it happen.”
“I invite you to view my paintings and photographs as one enters into meditation — silencing the outside world and the myriad thoughts that are in our minds.”
How would you describe your work?
“Painting is a manifestation of what is inside my soul silently urging me, whispering to me to create beauty, to quiet the chaos in my mind and silence the outside world. I fill my paintings with color, light, and passion combining gestural lines, fingerprints, and smudges while eventually coalescing the chaos into vibrant and balanced compositions.
Photography is my way of interpreting the world outside of myself. Discovering beauty all around me is a constant quest.”
Which artists influence you most?
“My passionate and gestural style of painting is most likened to abstract expressionists Joan Mitchell, Grace Hartigan, Willem de Kooning, and Jackson Pollock.
My photography is most influenced by Alfred Stieglizt, Imogen Cunningham, Jock Sturges, and Sally Mann. Their quiet portrayal of nature and everyday life brings me peace.”
What is your creative process like?
“Each of my paintings start with the carving of long, thin, flexible strips of wood. I also gather tree branches. Their different shapes and angles allow me to create diverse and unique strokes of paint. Dipping these wooden ‘brushes’ into thinned paints, I allow the tip to dance across the surface of the canvas to create unpredictable and energetic vortexes. It then becomes a subtractive process as I apply paint to further coalesce the expressions. Erasing some of the lines and simplifying some of the chaos forms more rhythmic and balanced compositions. After painting, as in meditation, my soul is soothed and I am reminded that there is beauty to be found in all things.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“Artists are mirrors of what is around and inside of them. These conditions are constantly changing, and an artist’s reactions to these changes reflect these circumstances. We are always in a fluid and open state. My favorite quote is by Georgia O’Keefe, ‘I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way — things I had no words for.’”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“I have had the pleasure of showing my works as follows:
- Women in Art, Las Laguna Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA.
- Interviewed by the Huffington Post - The Mad Men Paintings.
- Hosted on Artsy.
- Abstract Distraction, The Castelli Art Space, Los Angeles, CA.
- The Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles, CA.
- The G2 Gallery, Venice CA.
- The SFO Museum, San Francisco, CA.
- The See Me Collective, SoHo, NY & the Louvre, Paris.
- Artist residency at The Chateau Orquevaux in France.
- The C Gallery, Paintings, Los Alamos CA- Santa Maria Interview.”
All images courtesy of GizaraArts.com
Website: www,gizaraarts.omnipresenti.com
Instagram: @lisagizara
