Lisa Kairos

Instagram: lkairos

Website: http://www.lisakairos.com

Statement: Lisa Kairos makes dynamic abstract landscapes to get lost in; her work is inspired by the intersection of environment, perception, beauty, and technology. A California native, Lisa received her degree in fine art with an emphasis in painting at UC Santa Cruz in 1990. She has exhibited in group and solo shows and at art fairs throughout the United States. Her work is held in many private and corporate collections and she has completed numerous commissions for public and private spaces. She currently lives and works in San Francisco. My abstract paintings explore themes of change and transformation through the subject of landscape. I approach making my work the same way I explore a place: over time, in layers, with shifting perspectives. Layers of ink and paint mimic the geological formations revealed by satellite maps and colors drawn from the earth and sky converge and surprise. These paintings often pivot around visual interruptions, where crisp divisions in the picture plane suggest shifts in perspective and time . Sometimes areas of a painting are cut away entirely, marking the ephermeral nature of our environments. Atmospheric passages mingle with cartographical and technological references, resulting in a complex visual matrix, sometimes quiet and subtle, other times bursting with energy, like the landscape itself. The places that inspire my paintings become a lens through which I make sense of the world and time that we are living in. I am particularly attracted to landscapes that have endured human interventions and dramatic changes over time, usually the remainders and margins of urban space or remote locations that have been shaped by extraction, use, infrastructure, and sometimes restoration. Other times I focus on physical and ephemeral dynamics in the landscape, such as geological formations, fire, water systems, and weather events. I am drawn to areas where one type of space transitions to another: earth to sky, shadow to light, burn pile to ash, tidal marsh to open water. I look for a resonance of opposites, a moment of slippage and surprise, a glitch of unexpected beauty; where one thing becomes another, I find a metaphor for personal transformation.