+++ Lisa Solomon dot com +++ Portfolio +++Some recent artwork of Lisa Solomon+++

:: recent work

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migratory patterns
crayola braille
doily toxins + viruses + body
domestic scenes
doily dot paintings
doily installations
doily/quilt trees
tank installations
robots
rifle targets
thread drawings

	<< this work documents the migration of radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan after the earthquake/tsunami. the drawings chart the levels of radiation 5 days, one month, 6 months and 1 year after the event. the doily installation provides the key to the radiation levels [which even at the lowest levels are unsafe exposures].
<< this work documents the migration of Fu-Go - balloon bombs that the Japanese sent to attack the US during World War II. they utilized jet streams. the first piece charts where all the pieces of these bombs landed in the lower 48, the 2nd is a memorial to the 5 killed by a found bomb, the 3rd charts the jet streams and distances between the US and Japan.
		<< these drawings chart my movement - places i've visited [some from personal photos] & objects that have importance to me. simple drawings with colors charted & documented
	<< this work documents the migration of me, my husband and immediate family. the marks are abstract maps and literally count the mileage between places of residence for each person. the imagery relates to each locale/person [state birds, flowers, etc]. every component offers a key to some personal information, data, or insight.



	<<< this is a set of 16 Crayola color names with threads that match their namesakes represented in braille. when i was a child, my mother transcribed braille as a part time job. i always felt that it was like a secret language and loved looking at the pages of raised dots. i'm interested in how we perceive color and fascinated with the idea of "reading" color without sight i decided to create these. i was also fascinated by a tidbit i heard on NPR that kids are now able to name colors more eclectically since Crayola crayons have been in use. a bit tongue in cheek - if you can see, you can visualize the color, if you can read braille you get to know the name of the color.

		<<< these are representations of the h1n1 and Spanish flu viruses. at almost 4 feet square these are largerin scale than other works featured on this page. i decided to render these in black in white -to mimic all the slides/visuals i saw of these viruses.
					<<< these molecular representations of toxins were part of "fleeting beauty" an exhibition at Gallerie Nicoletta Rusconi. the bulk of them are chemical warfare agents

					<<< a continuation of the toxin work along with some repesentations of viruses
		<<< these drawings were made for Couplets - a show with Aurora Robson. We actually made work meant to hang together. In these drawings I took the molecular structures of environmental toxins and rendered them using doilies. An attempt to turn something ugly and horrible into something beautiful. See install shots of the show here.			<<< when I started drawing doilies I realized that en masse they reminded me of internal organs... these doily body drawings represent the 4 things I think you need to make art: your lungs, heart, brain, and guts.



watch me paint a doily - a little movie here


		<<< this was an exhibition entitled "where have all the trees gone". inspired by these two NASA satalite photos of Tierras Bajas in bolivia that had been deforrested. It struck me immediately as a terribly traumatic, but also incredibly beautiful imagery. The strange areas of haphazard clearing instantly also reminded me of doilies – in shape and texture. I decided I wanted to develop a body of work centered on deforestation. In all my work I’m consistently drawn to ideas and imagery that collide in someway – how can I make the ugly beautiful, or rescue, mend, or empathize with a situation using domestic arts?



^^ watch a video of me talking about this robot pile + other stuff - generated by the San Jose Museum of Art

each body of rifle target work opens in it's own browser window

	<<< in this series I mended targets that had been shot - each target uses a different colorway and a different stitch. in some ways this is my attempt to overcome and "correct" a situation that frightens me.
<<<<in this series I painted small pieces of rifle targets with watercolor depictions of plants that can be use to stop bleeding, or are helpful in wound care		<<<<in this series I cozied the target to render it harmless, or I sewed a pattern on top of the pattern to emphasize the decorative nature of the target
<<<<in this series I wanted to talk about gun usage. In thinking about hunting I wanted to depict the animals in a traditional manner - the silhouette, but in an untraditional colorway. on each target one animal is placed where a shot on the target would be fatal. each animal is also outlined by a series of pinholes - the act of sewing without its mending capabilities		<<<<these are slightly larger target pieces - thinking of the idea of "quilting" them together

each body of thread drawing work opens in it's own browser window

		<< this was an attempt at an abstract family tree. each hoop is an immediate family member [me, my daughter, my husband and his parents, my parents and their parents/my grandparents]. for each person i choose colors that i thought represented them, and a stitch that related to them somehow. the stitching itself indicates the birth or death date of the individual.
<< this series was done for the exhibition tattered cultures mended histories. i did a series of portraits, me, my mother and 2 grandmothers with our places of birth/residence. read more about the premise HERE			<<<< after doing a series of anonymous girl portraits showing the backside of the embroidery, I decided I should do a series of self-portraits. So I used 10 years of wallet sized photos of myself [and one with my family] and included the features
	<<<< interested in the masculine/feminine aspect of war machines, I wanted to make polka dotted planes. these are machine stitched since they are machines.

for inquires about available work, or if you want to see even more art please visit the Walter Maciel Gallery, Enormous Tiny Art, The Beholder, Richard Levy Gallery, Art Stream Studios, Fouladi Projects, websites....