Featured Artist : Lisa Kellner

Lisa Kellner has created and installed room sized installations and two dimensional works throughout the United States since 2006.  Her work has been exhibited at the Bellevue Arts Museum (WA), the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (NY), the Brooklyn Arts Council (NY) and the Weatherspoon Museum (NC), among others.  In addition, Lisa has worked with galleries including Ascent Contemporary (NY), Project 4 (DC), Bravin Lee Projects (NY) and Tarryn Teresa Gallery (LA).  Her work has been reviewed in The New York Times, The Boston Globe and Sculpture Magazine.  Lisa recently created site responsive installations at the Cornell Fine Arts Museum (FL), the Center for Maine Contemporary Art (ME) and Lehman College Art Gallery (NY). This April, Lisa will create a gallery sized “painting in space” for the Target Gallery in Alexandria Virginia.

Lisa has lived in Australia, Jamaica, and Western Europe.  Travel and exploration remain an integral aspect of her life and work.  Lisa received a BS from Boston University.  For nine years, she was a mural painter in New York. She continued her studies at the Art Students League and the School of Visual Arts in New York City, focusing on drawing and painting.  In 2008, she received an MFA from Lesley University’s College of Art and Design.  Lisa currently lives and works on a small island off the coast of Maine and in New York city. 

Rooted in the language of decay, erosion and disease, my Site Responsive installations merge intricate microcosms with immense topographies. These works use the imagery of diseased cellular activity to directly respond to the space in which they are installed.  The natural elements of water, air and sun (heat) are my means of achieving form.  I hand form, paint and sew together thousands of organic shapes out of silk organza creating a structure that operates both as environmental sculpture and a three dimensional painting in space.  

Silk performs similar to a layer of epidermis. It is translucent, yet deceptively strong.  Silk maintains the shape of organ-like structures while operating symbolically as a facade.   Because the original objects are removed, light and shadow are able to penetrate through the sculptured shell of silk.  These works are not dyed.  Rather, they go through a lengthy process in which raw pigment, ink, acrylic, bleach and compost are applied until the intended painterly effect is achieved.  Merging solid and ethereal constructions allows for notions of place and landscape in a rapidly shifting environment to be explored.

At the conclusion of an installation, the materials are brought back to a raw state and incorporated into the next project.  The silk acquires added patina that informs the forthcoming piece.  The only remaining artifacts of the installation are the photographs I take.