I make objects and sculptural paintings where materials meet, overlap, unify and resonate. The forms invoke minimalism, but with deeper engagement also express playfulness in their color, shadow, form and subtle humor.
A grid may suggest rigid order but then embrace the expressive, wobbling beauty of something made by hand.
A horizontal line may hint at a landscape but then shift like a tectonic plate.
The geography of where this leads me is both familiar and as elusive as the space between seconds.
On a trek through woods, I notice the complexity in scale and color of a mossy plateau. Sightlines atop a mountain peak suggest perspectival extremes – Wood and canvas forms echo topography; the amplification of a shadow behind a canvas parallels light and color shifting at times of day.
My work beckons a slowing down, attentive viewing and an opportunity to perceive complexities in the nature of light, space, form and dimension. It is subtle territory in which I hope the viewer may engage with the work and experience expansive moments of looking. The work offers a path to ponder simplicity in complexity, and the fertile realm of uncertainty.
Please contact me with any questions or for additional writing about my work.
Community is critical to all artistic disciplines. Providence has been pivotal in allowing me the opportunity to foster a continually growing network of artists through a critique and studio visit group that I founded in 2011. This richly inspiring community exemplifies the creative current that inhabits Rhode Island and is just one of many networks of artists that sustain and live the creative life here. Here is a link to the studio visit archive of some of the artists who have participated over the past 4 years: http://studio-visits-ri.tumblr.com.
ARTIST CV
Group Exhibitions:
2022 Trip the Light Fantastic, World’s Fair Gallery, Providence, RI
2021 Small Doses, Periphery Space, Providence, RI
2018 Whatever It Is I Have Looked For, Marquee Projects, Bellport, NY
2018 RISD Faculty Exhibition, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, RI
2018 Rhode Island State Council for the Arts Fellowship Exhibition 2018, URI Main Art Gallery
2017 Be Of Love and Other Stories, Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI
2017 Perspectives, Bristol Art Museum (upcoming Summer 17)
2017 GRIDS, Periphery Space, Pawtucket, RI
2016 RISD Museum, "What Gives" on view in the Paula and Leonard Granoff Galleries
2016 Networks Exhibition, Newport Art Museum, Newport, R
2016 RISD Summer Faculty Exhibition, Woods Gerry Gallery
2016 and there it was, Roger Williams University SAAHP Gallery, Bristol, RI
2015 Screening: Networks 2015 Artist Video Portraits, RISD Museum, Providence, RI
2014 Scope: Miami Beach (with Yellow Peril Gallery, Providence, RI)
2014 RISD Summer Faculty Exhibition, Woods-Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI
2014 Paper-made, Jamestown Art Center, Jamestown, RI
2013 PVD: TLA, Studio 1504, Abu Dhabi, Curated by Maya Allison
2013 Time Share: Create Space, Locally Made (One Room/Office Hours), RISD Museum
2012 Traces: persistent & fleeting, AS220 Pop-Up Gallery, Providence
2012 Growth: 14th Annual Fidelity Investments Juried Exhibition, Providence, RI
2012 Smash + Grab: Locust Projects, Miami, FL
2012 Paper, Scissors, Glue, Colo Colo Gallery, New Bedford, MA
2011 Three, Chazan Gallery at Wheeler, Providence, RI
2011 Among the Breakage: New Painting from Providence, Bell Gallery, Brown University
2011 Artists in the Archive: AS220 Reading Room, Providence, RI
2010 Art for Chile, Providence, RI
2009 Aqua Art Miami (Represented by 5 Traverse Gallery)
2009 deconstruct II, Providence, RI http://deconstruct2.blogspot.com/
2009 One Night Stand, 5 Traverse Gallery, Providence, RI
2007 Selections Spring 2007: Levity, Drawing Center, New York, NY
2007 deconstruct I, 150 Chestnut St, Providence, RI http://150chestnut.blogspot.com/
2007 Future 86 Art in the Catskills, August, 2007, http://future86.blogspot.com/
2006 Night of 1,000 Drawings: A Benefit for Artists Space, New York, NY
2006 RISD Summer Faculty Exhibition; Woods-Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI
2006 Good Neighbors: 70’of Common Ground; Provflux 06, Providence, RI
2005 About Light, Dutchess County Community College, Poughkeepsie NY
2005 Kingston Sculpture Biennial, Kingston NY
2005 SUNY Ulster Art Department Faculty Exhibition, SUNY Plaza, Albany NY
2005 This is Not an Archive, CCS, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Solo Exhibitions:
2014 truth of the matter, AS220 Project Space, Providence, RI
2013 Balance Between, Yellow Peril Gallery at Governors Island Art Fair, New York, NY
2010 No End To., Emerson Dorsch Gallery, Miami FL
2009 still even now, 5 Traverse Gallery, Providence, RI
2002 Room to See, Project Space, Headlands Center for the Arts
Awards + Honors:
2015 Prix Canson nominee ((http://en.canson.com/2015-prix-canson/2015-prix-canson-nominees)
2014 Vermont Studio Center, Full Fellowship, Johnson VT
2005 Viewing Program, Drawing Center, NYC, NY
2002 Project Space, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
2001-02 Post-MFA Studio Award: Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
Publications + Press:
ADHOC - Material Integrity: Lisa Perez 2015
"Among the Breakage" at Brown, By Greg Cook, The Phoenix, June 28, 2011
Modest artworks belie their intellectual heft by Bill Van Siclen, The Providence Journal, Oct 5, 2009
Gang of four by Greg Cook, The Phoenix, November 3, 2009
Becoming Silhouettes: Lisa Perez, Essay by Eugenio Volpe www.providencedailydose.com, October 23, 2009
Drawing Papers #67, catalog for Selections 2007: Levity, Drawing Center NYC
Kingston Sculpture Biennial Catalog 2005
CAC September 2004, Contemporary Artists Center, North Adams, MA (Catalog of the "Closer In" exhibition)
Five Star: The 31st Annual University of California, Berkeley (catalog for the Master of Fine Arts Graduate Exhibition)
New Yorker: Goings on About Town, April 2, 2007
Education:
MFA University of California, Berkeley
BFA University of Colorado, Boulder
BA Rutgers College, Rutgers University