Lisa Lebofsky
US
48 × 30 in
Oil on Aluminum
Lisa Lebofsky is a nomadic plein air painter, collaborating with nature and people. She paints the susceptibility of nature, correlating its restlessness with our vulnerabilities. Her direct participation with the landscape is vital to imbue a painting with the energy of a specific place, so that viewers can connect viscerally: to move, excite and engage them. The paintings are on surfaces that remain visible through various layers of paint, permeating the entire image. The push and pull of lights and darks, opacity and transparency, abstract and real, enhances the variability of these transient scenes. By painting in this dichotomous manner, nature becomes a metaphor for our emotional struggles and encounters.
Lebofsky finds inspiration by traveling extensively, often to remote parts of the world, in order to immerse herself in different environments and cultures. She seeks out areas around the globe that are particularly susceptible to the impacts of climate change, and meets with local residents to discuss how their community is impacted. To a great extent, these personal interactions inform what areas and what subject matter is ultimately painted. Regions visited include Antarctica, Newfoundland and Labrador, Greenland, and The Maldives. She is the recipient of awards including a 2024 NYFA Painting Grant, and residencies in: Shenandoah National Park, VA, Terra Nova National Park, Newfoundland, New Bedford Whaling Museum, MA, Saltonstall, NY, Tilting AIR, Fogo Island, Newfoundland, Jentel, WY. In 2023, Lisa was in the Tribeca Festival Artist Awards Program and her painting “Melting Iceberg 7” can be seen throughout Season 2 of Apple TV’s Severance. Lisa is back in New York after wrapping up a 3 year mission painting across North America to better know the changes happening in our environment and the people affected. Education: 2000 BFA Metals, State University of New York (SUNY) New Paltz, NY 2006 MFA Painting, New York Academy of Art, New York, NY "Painting is as fluid as our emotions. It runs through my body into a mark making dance, often surprising and always exciting. The surface and the mark drive the direction of the painting. I only mediate the interaction of the brush to surface and am along for the ride."