BIOGRAPHY
Lisa is a recognized abstract painter whose work is internationally recognized and collected. From her earliest memory, becoming an artist was clear and unwavering. Her love for painting developed early in her career and continues to be her method and passion.
Born n Michigan in 1964, then moving to Chicago to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago earning her BFA in 1988. After nearly twenty years of working as an artist in Chicago, Lisa relocated to Denver transforming a warehouse into an art space and gallery in the River North Arts District. Lisa has now found her home in Santa Cruz, California with her husband, a sculptor.
Lisa is included in collections worldwide and has completed major commission projects in Singapore, Dubai, Bangkok and London to name a few.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Everything in life inspires me, not quite with direct interpretation, but as I see and experience faces, words, gestures, colors, and shapes—all of it—I am always looking and reacting to the energy around me.
Rather than reflecting on grand issues that require objective answers, it can become a self-centered reflection of whatever piques my interest. All of this gets channeled and flows from brain to arm, hitting the whiteboard with that first wonderful stroke of vibrant color, and continues with adding and subtracting, stripping down to the most essential. I am in love with the eloquence of sparseness, everything to do with the act of painting: the smell, the lushness of oil paint, and color.
There is unmitigated spontaneity driven by emotive forces, reacting intuitively. Chance and choice. The works are not meant to be narrative but visual explorations. These explorations evoke sensations in the viewer that are not bounded by the literal but can be broadly identified as physical, spiritual, or psychological reactions. Painting titles are personal associations. I try to work with a straightforward painter's vocabulary without pretension. I'm not interested in postmodern irony or intellectualizing about painting. My methods of line and stroke are deliberate, intuitively unidentified. I don't labor over works in progress. If they trouble me, they need to be set aside while I move on to the next piece. This keeps several paintings in process; the momentum keeps ideas clear. Logic and intuition are always shifting and struggling between what will be viewed and holding onto my pure intention.
“Lisa Kowalski is not afraid to paint. With bold, fluid brush strokes and minimal style, her paintings have a childlike freedom and a sophisticated spontaneity. Her dynamic oil paintings are infused with creative energy, an intuitive sense of color, and an innate understanding of composition. Reminiscent of the Abstract Expressionist movement of the 1940′s and beyond, Kowalski unleashes the creativity of her approach, therefore making the process just as important as the painting itself. She paints what she feels, capturing the essence of herself and all she has absorbed in uncalculated marks, rich textures, and games of positive and negative space.”
– Scott Lafontsee, Lafontsee Galleries
CURRICULUM VITAE
EDUCATION
BFA, The School at the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 1988
COLLECTIONS AND PLACEMENTS
Four Season Resort, Nevis, West Indies
Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building, Salt Lake City, Utah
Capella, Bangkok, Thailand
Beverly Hills Hotel, Beverly Hills, California
Solaire Resort & Casino, Manila, Philippines
Hard Rock Hotel, Hollywood, Florida
Belmond Grand Hotel Europe, St. Petersburg, Russia
The Plaza, New York, New York
Fox Rothschild, LLP, Denver, Colorado
Club Quarters Bryant Park, New York, New York
Four Seasons, Denver, Colorado
Hotel Hugo, New York, New York
ABC Studios, set of ‘Private Practice’
Four Seasons, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Guy Savoy Restaurant, Singapore
Kirkland & Ellis, San Francisco
Sands Cotai Hotel, Macau China
Terranea Resort, Palo Verdes, CA
The Venetian Macao Resort, Macau China
The Pendry Four Seasons, Park City, Utah
Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
Hall, Prangle & Schoonveld, Chiago, IL.
Microsoft Corporation, Seattle WA.
Anglo Irish Bank, Boston MA
Sue Miller and Jeff Tweedy, Chicago IL
St. Regi, Macau, China
Hotel Hugo, New York, NY
Murray and Murray Law Offices, Sandusky, OH
Envision. Denver, CO
Fairmont, San Jose, CA
Claridge House, Chicago, IL
Steelcase, Inc., St. Louis, MO
Haworth Corporation, Holland, MI
URS Architectural, Grand Rapids, MI
Greenfield Partners, Chicago IL
The Confluence, Denver, CO
Pechanga Resort, Temecula, Ca
Sun City Kobe Tower, Kobe, Japan
Tristan Thompson, Boston, MA
The Londoner, Macau, China
Liner, Freedman Taitelman + Cooley, Los Angeles, CA
The Leyton, New York, NY
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2024
Changing Spaces, group show, Radius Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA
Breaking Ground, group show, Lafontsee Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA
2023
Cut & Paste, group show, Lafontsee Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA
2022
In Cahoots, group show, Lafontsee Gallery, Grand Rapids, MI
2018
A R T / Art Movement Colorado, Boulder, CO
2016
Season Opener, group show, Globe Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2014
Lisa Kowalski Black and White, solo show, Ironton Gallery, Denver, CO
2013
Wide View, Lafontsee Gallery, Douglas, MI
2011
New Work, Ironton Gallery, Denver, CO
2010
Into the Brilliance, Half/Dozen Gallery, Portland, OR
Fog, Half/Dozen Gallery, Portland, OR
2009
10Paintings, Half/Dozen Gallery, Portland, OR
Art Club, Half/Dozen Gallery, Portland, OR
2008
Exhibit Number 1, in the new space, Denver, CO
New Work, New City, Square 101 Gallery, Denver, CO
Recent Paintings‘, Denver, CO
2007
Fashionation at Lumin , Chicago, Il.
Aqua Art at Miami Art Basel, Miami Fl.
BridgeartFair at Trafalgar Square, London, UK
BridgeArtFair at Art Chicago, Chicago, IL
BridgeArtFair at Miami Art Basel, Miami, FL
New Paintings, Navta Schulz Gallery Chicago, IL
2006
Five, Lafontsee Galleries, Grand Rapid, Mi
Four, Navta Schulz Gallery. Chicago. IL
Fresh Paint, Navta Schulz Gallery, Chicago, IL
2005
New Work, Water Street Gallery, Princeton, WI
April Fools, Lafontsee Galleries, Grand Rapids, MI
2004
Unadulterated, Lafontsee Galleries, Grand Rapids, MI
2003
New Work, Water Street Gallery, Princeton, WI
2002
Winter Show, Eau by Water Street Gallery, Princeton, WI
New Paintings, Contemporary Art Workshop, Chicago, IL
2001
No Boundaries, Lafontsee Galleries, Grand Rapids, MI
Emerging, Lafontsee Galleries, Grand Rapids, MI
Fountain Street Church, Grand Rapids, MI
Live Coverage, Urban Institute of Contemporary Arts, Grand Rapids, MI
2000
New Season, New Work, New Road, Lafontsee Galleries, Grand Rapids, MI
1999
Regional 71, Muskegon Museum of Art, Muskegon, MI
1999
Group Show, Lafontsee Galleries, Grand Rapids, MI
Object of My Affection, Lafontsee Galleries, Grand Rapids, MI
Vocalconstructivision, solo show, Synergy Gallery, Chicago, IL.