Studio News and Works in the Studio

24 x 24 oil and wax on board LPressman@2009


Now Represented by:
Chace Randall Gallery, Andes, NY
The Allyn Gallup Gallery, Sarasota, FL
Jack Meier Gallery, Houston,TX
The Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia, PA



48 x48 oil and wax LPressman@2009


6 24 x24 oil and wax on board in progress


Upcoming Exhibitions/2010

Visual Arts Center of New Jersey
Lisa Pressman, Solo Show
Opening Reception: January 19th, 2010 6pm-8pm
January 15 – March 19, 2010

The Dana Women Artists Series
Illusive Balance: Transcendental Pattern and Layered Surface
March 17-April 28
Lisa Pressman, Debra Ramsay, Nicole Ianuzelli and Marsha Goldberg
Douglass College Library, New Brunswick, NJ

Rosenfeld Gallery
Philadelphia, PA
Solo Show, October 2010


6@ 10 x10 wax and ink on paper LPressman@2009

Serra, Brancusi, and Monet

I was just looking through some photos from my trip to Paris a while back. Here are a few from the inspiring Serra show at the Grand Palais.

the floor at the Grand Palais


And a few from Brancusi's studio:










And of course Monet's garden which was in full bloom!!

Some of Ken Weathersby's art influences

"169 (k & w)"


"169 (k & w)" The Other Side
The two images above show the same piece-One side is shown for the first half of the exhibition and then the other side for the other half.



162 (nfc)
2008
Acrylic & Graphite on Canvas, Wood, with Opening
16" x 16" x 3"

162 (nfc) is a painting with two backs
and no front. It can hang with either
back (above, or next image) visible.

	162 (nfc) 2008 Acrylic & Graphite on Canvas, Wood, with Opening 16" x 16" x 3" 162 (nfc) is a painting with two backs and no front.

A couple weeks ago I stopped in at Kent Place Gallery to see Ken Weathersby 's show The Reverse Side Also Has a Reverse Side. We had quite a nice chat about his work and art world stuff. I found the work intellectually and visually engaging and challenging. It is work that makes the viewer think and ask questions. Go to his website to read about it.

If you have read my post about titles, this is one case where titles are not needed. The work is very present and specific without titles. You can see more of his work on his blog.

"I create optically active paintings on canvas, often modified or interrupted by physical displacements, dissections, insertions or reversals."

"171", two painted panels inset in wall.




Ken says:
"I'll call it a list of ten artists, rather than, "my top ten influences", that helps. The list of ten artists below includes mostly those whose work I have returned to and liked over a long period of time, ten years at least, more in some cases, and definitely leaves out some who've been very important to me. Any selection seems false, but... parlor games like this are impossible and not fun if you take them too seriously, so here, not ranked by preference, are my ten for now:"

james castle
marcel duchamp
roni horn
alfred jensen
ray johnson
yayoi kusama
john o'connor
giovanni di paolo
ad reinhardt
daan van golden

Interesting choices. Thanks for "playing", Ken.


Installation view, Kent Place Gallery. "167 (bgbjrid)" and "170 (floor piece)".
----

Artist of the Month at R & F Handmade Paints and a bit of history

I have always been a materials person. I began fooling around making pottery when I was fifteen and even applied to Alfred ("the" place to go for ceramics) but I ended up at Douglass College in the art department.
Eventually, I became more interested in clay as material.The first few pieces I made were individual objects made of bisqued clay.

"Patterns" 1978 L Pressman

"Random Pilings" 1978 L Pressman

Then I began using the unfired clay itself, combining it with wood that I got from my father's lumber yard. I loved the yard with all the screws, nuts, paint chips and scraps of wood.



The Rack unfired clay and wood 1979

My father and I would go to the lumber yard and "take inventory " on Sundays. Meaning that we would load up the car with wood scraps for
me to use in my work.

Appearances Can Deceive-View one and two, unfired clay and wood 1979 LPressman



In graduate school I made a few pieces with wood and plaster.

Plaster and Wood 1981 L Pressman

Then I discovered color and concentrated on painting.( it's a good thing judging from these last two images)


one of the first paintings-1981 40 x 60 oil

Restraint oil and cold wax 42 x 52 1983 LPressman


Pink Rain oil and cold wax 48 x 70 oil 1989 L Pressman


Charcoal, pastel,oil paint, cold wax, collage -it all shows up in the work over the years.


I think the show Waxing Poetic at the Montclair Art Museum in 1999 was one that introduced me, along with many other artists to the possibilities of wax. Not long after that I took an encaustic workshop and fooled around with it for several years. I did a series of small works that combined encaustic and vintage postcards.


Arrived Allright 5 x7 encaustic L Pressman 2000


Japan encaustic 5 x7 L Pressman 2000

and I continued making paintings in oil.

Lower Depths mixed media 41 x 38 2005 L Pressman

Still 24 x24 oil on board,charcoal 2005 L Pressman

Several years ago the opportunity to teach encaustic came my way. So I traveled up to R&F Handmade Paints in Kingston, NY to hone my skills.
I did a five day "teaching workshop" with ten other artists.That session took my work in a whole other direction. Since then I have been working with encaustic primarily.


Circle encaustic 30x30 2007 L Pressman


#3 Moons encaustic 16 x16 2007 LPressman

It feels as though another shift is coming on in the studio. I just finished a commissioned oil painting and have another piece in the works that combines both encaustic and oil so........we shall see...


Portal 2 oil 48 x 48 at Post 390, Boston



Meanwhile, I am pleased to announce that I am featured as Artist of the Month on the R and F website. They posted some images and an interview. One of the questions Laura, the gallery director asks is: If one could follow one your paintings as if it were a map, where do you imagine it would lead? That is a question to keep on trying to answer.

R & F Handmade Paints makes encaustic paint, sells encaustic supplies and offers workshops. It is a great place. All the people who work there are artists and the energy is a good one. Even if you don't paint in encaustic if you are ever in Kingston, NY make a stop: watch how they make the paint; talk to the artists; look at the gallery; and buy some of those delicious pigment sticks to play with.

Who does she think she is?

"Who Does She Think She is?" directed by Pamela Tanner Boll.







The Arts Council of the Morris Area in partnership with St. Elizabeth's College will host a screening of the entire film followed by a panel discussion at St. Elizabeth's College, Madison NJ on October 5 beginning at 6:00.

I am looking forward to seeing this film and then participating as one of the panel members that night.

John Tallman's art influences

So What 24" x 24", pigment and resin


I try to keep my commentary to a minimum(if you hadn't noticed) but with Tennessee artist John Tallman's work I just have to say-I like it. I like the reductive quality, the lushness,the thingness and his sense of humor. The pieces always remind me of something......that I just can't put a name on. But this piece above reminds me of the candy-Dots. Also, if you are not familiar with his blog Color Chunks, check it out.





picture 6: acrylic on plaster, 7"x3.5", 2008.

My art now seems to be in one of those transitions. Maybe that is actually always the case and now I’m just more aware of it. A very good friend of mine(a painter) said in his statement he wanted to de-mystify painting. I thought about that and I decided I wanted to do was to re-mystify painting. There are certain dualities that painting can examine excellently because of its limited format. “The picture” can frame particular contradictions in a way that no other medium can.

Arcadian Landscape: acrylic on wood, 4"x7", 2009.

Top Ten Current and Past Influences(in no particular order):

Robert Ryman(for method).

Eva Hesse(for making).

Richard Tuttle(for romance).

Thomas Demand(for (dis)placement).

Gunther Forg(for economy).

Philip Guston(for drawing).

Marcel Duchamp(for humor).

Bill DeKooning(for lusciousness).

Blinky Palermo(for engagement).

Herman Melville(for the whiteness).

Chzfb pigment and resin, 24"x24", 2009

Chelsea 9/10

Gabriel Phipps Gunslinger oil on canvas 70 x94 2009