ARTIST STATEMENT
Lisa is an abstract painter whose work is internationally recognized and collected. From her earliest memory, becoming an artist was clear and unwavering. Her love for painting developed early in her career and continues to be her method and passion.
Born in Michigan in 1964, then moving to Chicago to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago earning her BFA in 1988. After nearly twenty years of working as an artist in Chicago, Lisa relocated to Denver transforming a warehouse into an art studio and gallery in the River North Arts District. Lisa has now found her home in Santa Cruz, California with her husband, a sculptor.
Lisa is included in collections worldwide and has completed major commission projects in Singapore, Dubai, Bangkok and London.
Everything in life inspires me—not through direct interpretation, but through experience. Faces, words, gestures, colors, and shapes all carry an energy to which I instinctively respond.
My paintings are personal reflections rather than responses to grand questions or objective truths. Each work begins with the exhilaration of the first stroke of color, then evolves through a process of adding and subtracting until only what is essential remains. I am drawn to the eloquence of sparseness and to every aspect of painting itself: the richness of oil paint, the physicality of the brush, and the expressive power of color.
My process is guided by spontaneity, emotion, and intuition. Chance and choice exist in constant dialogue. I don't labor over a painting; if a work begins to resist me, I set it aside and move on to another. Keeping several paintings in progress preserves momentum and allows each piece to develop on its own terms. Logic and intuition continually shift, each informing the other while I work to remain faithful to my original impulse.
These paintings are not narratives. They are visual explorations that invite viewers to experience sensations beyond the literal—responses that may be physical, spiritual, or psychological. The titles are simply personal associations, not explanations. I seek a direct painter's vocabulary without pretension. I have little interest in irony or intellectualizing the act of painting. Instead, I trust the language of paint itself, allowing gesture, color, and form to communicate what words cannot.
CURRICULUM VITAE
REPRESENTATION
Fresh Paint Art, Los Angeles, CA
EDUCATION
BFA, The School at the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 1988
COLLECTIONS AND PLACEMENTS
Four Season Resort, Nevis, West Indies
Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building, Salt Lake City, Utah
Capella, Bangkok, Thailand
Beverly Hills Hotel, Beverly Hills, California
Solaire Resort & Casino, Manila, Philippines
Hard Rock Hotel, Hollywood, Florida
Belmond Grand Hotel Europe, St. Petersburg, Russia
The Plaza, New York, New York
Fox Rothschild, LLP, Denver, Colorado
Club Quarters Bryant Park, New York, New York
Four Seasons, Denver, Colorado
Hotel Hugo, New York, New York
ABC Studios, set of ‘Private Practice’
Four Seasons, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Guy Savoy Restaurant, Singapore
Kirkland & Ellis, San Francisco
Sands Cotai Hotel, Macau China
Terranea Resort, Palo Verdes, CA
The Venetian Macao Resort, Macau China
The Pendry Four Seasons, Park City, Utah
Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
Hall, Prangle & Schoonveld, Chiago, IL.
Microsoft Corporation, Seattle WA.
Anglo Irish Bank, Boston MA
Sue Miller and Jeff Tweedy, Chicago IL
St. Regi, Macau, China
Hotel Hugo, New York, NY
Murray and Murray Law Offices, Sandusky, OH
Envision, Denver, CO
Butler Snow, Denver, CO
Fairmont, San Jose, CA
Claridge House, Chicago, IL
Steelcase, Inc., St. Louis, MO
Haworth Corporation, Holland, MI
URS Architectural, Grand Rapids, MI
Greenfield Partners, Chicago IL
The Confluence, Denver, CO
Pechanga Resort, Temecula, Ca
Sun City Kobe Tower, Kobe, Japan
Tristan Thompson, Boston, MA
The Londoner, Macau, China
Liner, Freedman Taitelman + Cooley, Los Angeles, CA
The Leyton, New York, NY
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2024
Changing Spaces, group show, Radius Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA
Breaking Ground, group show, Lafontsee Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA
2023
Cut & Paste, group show, Lafontsee Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA
2022
In Cahoots, group show, Lafontsee Gallery, Grand Rapids, MI
2018
A R T / Art Movement Colorado, Boulder, CO
2016
Season Opener, group show, Globe Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2014
Lisa Kowalski Black and White, solo show, Ironton Gallery, Denver, CO
2013
Wide View, Lafontsee Gallery, Douglas, MI
2011
New Work, Ironton Gallery, Denver, CO
2010
Into the Brilliance, Half/Dozen Gallery, Portland, OR
Fog, Half/Dozen Gallery, Portland, OR
2009
10Paintings, Half/Dozen Gallery, Portland, OR
Art Club, Half/Dozen Gallery, Portland, OR
2008
Exhibit Number 1, in the new space, Denver, CO
New Work, New City, Square 101 Gallery, Denver, CO
Recent Paintings‘, Denver, CO
2007
Fashionation at Lumin , Chicago, Il.
Aqua Art at Miami Art Basel, Miami Fl.
BridgeartFair at Trafalgar Square, London, UK
BridgeArtFair at Art Chicago, Chicago, IL
BridgeArtFair at Miami Art Basel, Miami, FL
New Paintings, Navta Schulz Gallery Chicago, IL
2006
Five, Lafontsee Galleries, Grand Rapid, Mi
Four, Navta Schulz Gallery. Chicago. IL
Fresh Paint, Navta Schulz Gallery, Chicago, IL
2005
New Work, Water Street Gallery, Princeton, WI
April Fools, Lafontsee Galleries, Grand Rapids, MI
2004
Unadulterated, Lafontsee Galleries, Grand Rapids, MI
2003
New Work, Water Street Gallery, Princeton, WI
2002
Winter Show, Eau by Water Street Gallery, Princeton, WI
New Paintings, Contemporary Art Workshop, Chicago, IL