Statement
My work follows a lyrical path in which shape, line, and color evoke mystery and allude to realms beyond our reach. I communicate through mark-making, repetition, and the unorthodox layering of materials to create luminous, textured surfaces. I am drawn to interact with these mythical worlds, and my paintings often include abstract vessels that act as portals to the interval that exists between life and death. I also use language to bridge the gap, applying fragments of rub-on Letraset letters to create a hieroglyph beyond even my own understanding. In my experimental approach, I am constantly searching for ways to express the deepest emotions and experiences of the human condition.
My painting is infused with a personal history that includes immense loss and grief. My life journey shifted dramatically after the death of my son, who died in 2019 at the age of 26. The deep sense of loss at the death of a child left me entirely unprepared for a future without him. My studio practice has given me a place to express my grief, connect with my son who was also an artist, and find joy through the creative process. It is my hope that my paintings contain and communicate some of the joy, sorrow, and humanity of my journey.
Biography
Lisa Pressman’s artistic career is marked by exploration: testing the boundaries of the expressive potential latent in a variety of mediums, among them oil, encaustic, cold wax, and mixed-media collage. Her work is abstract, conceptually based, and process-driven. Lisa’s artworks feature marks, forms, colors and patterns that are evocative rather than overt.
Raised by parents working across creative mediums, Lisa grew up surrounded by building materials and immersed in multiple forms of cultural expression that nurtured her curiosity and aesthetic sensibility from a young age. A trip to Israel at age 12 revealed new worlds filled with an eclectic range of visual imagery, textures and colors that brought new possibilities to this young artist’s practice, bringing with it a visual acuity which served as the defining moment when she realized she was going to become an artist.
Lisa received her BA, Fine Art from Douglass College from Rutgers University, with an emphasis in ceramics and sculpture. As a graduate student she changed her emphasis from sculpture to painting, receiving her MFA in Painting from Bard College. Since then she has exhibited regionally and nationally in solo and group exhibitions at spaces such as the Cape Cod Museum of Art,(Dennis MA) The Holter Museum of Art (Helena, MT,) and Hunterdon Art Museum (Clinton,NJ ) and her work is held in numerous private and public collections. Her work is represented by Susan Eley Fine Arts (New York, NY,) Addington Gallery (Chicago, IL) and Slate Gallery (Telluride, Colorado.) The artist has a solo exhibition in New York City at Susan Eley Fine Art in NYC, December 2022.
A highly respected arts educator, Lisa maintains a vigorous teaching program. She worked on the faculty of the former Art Institute of NY, and served as a visiting professor at Pratt Institute and other universities. She has taught workshops in France, Mexico, Italy and the US. Lisa is renowned for her knowledge of encaustic, cold wax processes, concept based courses, and she presents annually at the International Encaustic Conference in Provincetown, MA. She is a core instructor for R&F Handmade Paints. As a mentor, she facilitates each artist’s voice during individual sessions to grasp the source of what these artists are seeking to capture in their artistic vision.
“My work embodies a visual synthesis of stored memory. Personal recollections, both vivid and vague, build and decompose over time. Each painting, with its complex layered surface, elicits a visceral response, reshaping its own new history. “ LP