LAST NIGHT, in Downtown Dallas, there was a Juried Art Show called Art in the City, and my assistant Lisa's painting Eternal Itch, shown above, was chosen AND placed in the front window of the gallery.
The venue for the show was at Third Space, located in a historic building on Main Street in Dallas
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| above two images from Third Space |
The show had pieces that included paintings (such as Lisa's above), art glass, sculpture, and photography.
But in my opinion (and I'm not being biased!) Lisa's painting was the coup de maître. Here she is (above) giving her interpretation of the painting's meaning, which was largely inspired by a trip to India and the marigolds in bloom while she was there. This painting really requires a more detailed look, but all I had was my phone's camera. What looks like grey shadows is really thousands of tiny ink lines.
Lisa, who is doubly talented as an artist as well as basically running my company(!), has been producing paintings and prints for many years. She has a masters degree in printmaking as well, and a working studio in Dallas.
She told us last night that ballpoint pen is a favourite medium of hers, and we found that fascinating! It does produce such fine detail, as shown in the piece above, as well as in her painting at the gallery. There must be thousands of little vertical lines in the pen's ink, and when you stood back, it produced such movement and shadows-- it was pretty cool and incredibly interesting.
A lot of her work has actually been installations, such as the pieces above, where she uses the gallery wall as the third medium, by including it as a piece of the art. You can see this, in the image above. The pencil lines are actually drawn on the wall, and the intaglio print/watercolor are pinned to the wall, and they flutter when movement approaches. It is very interactive.
What fascinated me most I think, is how she used crushed Iris blooms to get the royal purple hue in the image above. She said Iris flowers have the most amazing transparency in their intense color and by the way it looks above, I totally agree.
On her website, she also has a rotating slideshow of what she calls Daily Drawings. I think they are really interesting and cohesive with her whole statement and aesthetic. You should really go there and visit and spend some time to see her art and read the names and descriptions of the pieces. Also take note of the mediums used, as I found that to be really enlightening.
This one above is a particular favorite of mine, as there is something dark and industrial about it, which reminds me a lot of my mentor Karl Umlauf and his work. I had posted about Karl in my first week of blogging, because he had a lot to do with the way I formed my artistic direction when I was in Art School getting my own BFA in painting.
I'm so proud of Lisa, and it's really fun to see an artist take flight, especially one such as her who is talented but also has a true passion for her craft. I think this show is just the beginning of many more to come. To learn more about Lisa Renz, go here.
