Lisa Adams
Lisa Adams | |
---|---|
Born | Lisa Adams 1955 Bristol, Pennsylvania, United States |
Nationality | American |
Education | B.A. 1977 Scripps College, Claremont, California; University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; M.F.A. 1980 Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California |
Known for | Painting |
Awards | Fulbright Award (1996), Brody Arts Fund Fellowship, Durfee ARC Grant |
Lisa Adams (born 1955) is an American painter who emerged in the mid 1980s. She is best known for her oil paintings of imaginary worlds that address both personal and collective realities. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is in the public collections of Eli Broad, the San Jose Museum of Art, the Frederick R. Weisman Museum,[1] the Laguna Museum of Art[2] and the Edward Albee Foundation.[3] She lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
Work and exhibitions
Combining images of dystopic environments and unlikely human-built structures, Lisa Adams[4] is best known for her oil paintings of imaginary worlds that address both personal and collective realities. Though her work is not directly about issues resulting from climate change or ecological disaster, her paintings reference a significant shift in our thinking and our planet.
Lisa Adams' work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is represented by CB1 Gallery[5] in Los Angeles, where her 2013 solo exhibition Second Life was reviewed in the LA Times by Holly Myers.[6] Her most recent exhibition America The Beautiful ran from September 12 - October 31, 2015 and her upcoming exhibition at CB1 Gallery is slated for January, 2016.
Lisa also blogs on Los Angeles art for the Huffington Post.
Early influences and work
Adams knew she would be an artist at age ten after seeing a reproduction of Salvador Dalí's The Persistence of Memory. She also recalls being fascinated by the Charles and Ray Eames short film Powers of Ten and by a Karl Benjamin non-objective painting when she was thirteen years old.
In 1981, shortly after graduating from the Claremont Graduate University, Adams and artist Craig Kauffman (with whom she was romantically involved at the time) moved to SoHo in New York City. She often referred to that time as her real education, where she was influenced by artists such as Susan Rothenberg and Julian Schnabel. Adams' work was included in group exhibitions in the East Village and SoHo.
In 1985 after her split with Kauffman, she returned to Los Angeles and continued to pursue her career as a painter. Adams painted abstractly for over a decade, eventually experimenting with unconventional art materials, such as linoleum and caulking. She also learned how to weld and woodwork, incorporating steel and shaped panels as integral elements in her paintings. She thought of her investigations into this hybrid form of artwork as "wall dependent" sculpture. In the early 2000s Adams received a Durfee ARC Grant[7] to purse experiments in video work.
Public art, residencies and special projects
In addition to her studio practice Adams works on public art projects which have included the West Valley Branch Library in Reseda, California, the Fire Station No. 64[8] in Watts, Los Angeles and her most recent public art project is the Chatsworth Station[9] for the Los Angeles Metro Orange Line Extension completed in June 2012.
As an artist-in-residence, Adams has lived and worked in Slovenia, Finland, Japan, the Netherlands and Costa Rica and has traveled extensively throughout Europe and Asia.
She has worked as an independent curator, who in 2000, co-founded Crazy Space, an alternative exhibition space, in Santa Monica, California.
In the 1990s Adams was commission by BMW of North America to paint an ArtCar[10] and has been included in A Day in the Life of the American Woman: How We See Ourselves,[11] Bullfinch Press, 2005.
Academic experience
Adams began teaching in 1986. Since that time she has taught at many reputed art departments throughout the Los Angeles area and abroad, including University of Southern California, Claremont Graduate University, Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Ljubljana, Slovenia, UCLA Extension, Otis College of Art & Design and the Santa Monica College of Design, Art and Architecture where she authored a book titled FM*,[12] (Peeps Island Press, 1999) a How To book about painting, based on her teachings between 1997-1999. She has also conducted workshops at the World Design Studios in Gifu City, Japan, the Idyllwild Arts Academy and Summer Arts at California State University, Fresno.
Collections and media
Filmmaker Juri Koll directed and produced a 54-minute documentary on Adams titled Lisa Adams: As It Appears To Be [13] which made its debut at the Crest Theater in Westwood (Los Angeles) on June 6, 2014. In 2012 two short films were produced about Adams and her working process. The first is by Eric Minh Swenson[14] titled Toxic Sky[15] and the second is part of a video series by Joseph Santarromana[16] titled The Remembers, episode 3.[17]
In the fall of 2011, her first monograph book titled Vicissitude of Circumstance was published by Zero+ Publishing[18] (available on Amazon[19]) and James Scarborough's essay[20] that appears in the book was published on the Huffington Post.
Lisa Adams work is in the public collections of Eli Broad, the San Jose Museum of Art, the Frederick R. Weisman Museum,[1] the Laguna Museum of Art[2] and the Edward Albee Foundation.[3]
Further reading
- Adams, Lisa, James Scarborough, and Ezhra Jean Black. "Lisa Adams: Vicissitude of Circumstance". Los Angeles: ZERO+ Publishing (2011). ISBN 1937222020
- Multiple authors. "F M*". Venice: Peeps' Island Press (1999). ISBN 0966943406
- Saline, Carol, Dawn Sheggeby, and Sharon J. Wohlmuth. A Day in the Life of the American Woman: How We See Ourselves. New York: Bulfinch (2005). ISBN 0821257064
References
- ^ a b "The Frederick R. Weisman Museum".
- ^ a b "Laguna Beach, CA —". Laguna Art Museum. Retrieved 2013-11-28.
- ^ a b "The Edward F. Albee Foundation". Albeefoundation.org. Retrieved 2013-11-28.
- ^ "Lisa Adams | Artist". Lisamakesart.com. Retrieved 2013-11-28.
- ^ "CB1 Gallery Artist - Lisa Adams". Cb1gallery.com. Retrieved 2013-11-28.
- ^ "Review: Lisa Adams' 'Second Life' sets off on an engaging journey - Los Angeles Times". Latimes.com. 2013-04-12. Retrieved 2013-11-28.
- ^ "The Durfee Foundation". Durfee.org. Retrieved 2013-11-28.
- ^ "Simple Online Collaboration: Online File Storage, FTP Replacement, Team Workspaces". Box. Retrieved 2013-11-28.
- ^ "Art for the Orange Line: A glimpse of Stoney Point Park by Lisa Adams | Metro's The Source". Thesource.metro.net. 2012-02-03. Retrieved 2013-11-28.
- ^ "Simple Online Collaboration: Online File Storage, FTP Replacement, Team Workspaces". Box. Retrieved 2013-11-28.
- ^ "A Day in the Life of the American Woman: How We See Ourselves: Sharon J. Wohlmuth (Author), Carol Saline (Author), Dawn Sheggeby (Author) Amazon.com: Books". Amazon.com.
- ^ "F M*: Alan Shaffer, Sari Anderson, Rachel Benoff, Jack Birdsall, Annette Cutrono, Rachel Grynberg, Lauren Hartman, Kate Hungerford, Marion Lane, Nancy Levy, Maritza Mazariego, Louisa M. Miller, Leslie Nuesca, Elizabeth L. Pence, Leigh Salgado, Steve Siegrist, Ralston Fox Smith, Lynn Hanson, Gene Ogami, Lisa Adams: 9780966943405: Amazon.com: Books". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2013-11-28.
- ^ "Lisa Adams: As It Appears To Be". YouTube.
- ^ "ERIC MINH SWENSON, THUVANARTS, f.64 PRODUCTIONS, LOS ANGELES FILM PRODUCTION :::". Thuvanarts.com. Retrieved 2013-11-28.
- ^ "Lisa Adams : Toxic Sky". YouTube. 2012-07-28. Retrieved 2013-11-28.
- ^ "Joseph Santarromana". System-yellow.com. Retrieved 2013-11-28.
- ^ "THE REMEMBERERS: Lisa Adams, ep. 3, 2012 on Vimeo". Vimeo.com. 2012-04-16. Retrieved 2013-11-28.
- ^ "ZERO+ Publishing". Zeropluspublishing.com. Retrieved 2013-11-28.
- ^ "Lisa Adams: Vicissitude of Circumstance: Lisa Adams, James Scarborough, Ezrha Jean Black: 9781937222024: Amazon.com: Books". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2013-11-28.
- ^ "James Scarborough: Lisa Adams And The Spirituality of Imperfection". Huffingtonpost.com. 2011-05-18. Retrieved 2013-11-28.
External links
- American women painters
- Living people
- Scripps College alumni
- Claremont Graduate University alumni
- University of Southern California faculty
- Claremont Graduate University faculty
- Otis College of Art and Design faculty
- 1955 births
- 20th-century American painters
- 21st-century American painters
- 20th-century American women artists
- 21st-century American women artists