The Irish-Korean-American painter Lisa Mee uses intense lights and colours to recreate dynamic landscapes interpreted under the filter of her own visual experience.
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Lisa Mee is an Irish-Korean-American artist who lives and works in New York City. Her style encompasses many techniques ranging from drawings, paintings, and collages to begin with. She has been practicing arts since her childhood years and well into her college years at Fordham University. She is married to Wayne Ensrud who is also an artist and the only living protégée of the Austrian artist, Oskar Kokoschka, a student of Gustav Klimt. Ensrud has surely been an influence on the road to becoming the artist Lisa Mee has become today.
In all the artworks of Lisa Mee, her love for nature is apparent. In most of her pieces, she pursues the revelations of light and color to create vibrant landscapes. However, her works are never meant to be identical copies of a landscape but rather an experience made up of Mee’s observations. As the artist states, her works are a fusion of love of nature and expressionism meant to evoke a “deep richness of uplifting moods”.
In Lisa Mee’s works the intensity of the colors and the lack of details are intentional in order to cancel the apparition of a realistic depth that is instead only conveyed through the dynamism of the elements. This is allegorical in reference to ancient Japanese prints. Still, Mee’s works are anything but ancient. On the contrary, they are works of novelty and imagination as Mee herself is a contemporary artist.
The artist gathers a considerable chunk of her inspiration from the landscapes she has witnessed among the beautiful sceneries during her European trips. Mee has visited many European vistas which she has transformed into alluring artworks for the ever-exploring art lover. As an explorer herself, she gathers patterns found wherever possible.
While contemplating Lisa Mee’s works, one might experience a sense of familiarity. Beyond the subjects of the paintings, this can be attributed to their similarity to stained-glass effects of mosaic-like patterns and light. The high level of saturation in her paintings and the use of metallic gilding paint help to capture the luminous impression of glass as well as develop Mee’s unique style.
The way Lisa Mee creates these unique works of art is through techniques peculiar to her and her only. Mainly, it is owed to her letting her imagination flow to the canvas freely. Mee begins by mixing matte mediums with different paint colors without knowing a priori what hues will emerge. When the paints are laid out, she integrates them together. Lastly, while the canvas is sopping wet, she quickly applies a sheet of paper to the surface and presses it down. In the end, she either lifts the paper off or decides not to, wherever her liking leads her. The magic of the works is that even the artist doesn’t know what she’ll end up creating in the end.
“I paint tranquility by merging various colors, shapes, and forms into harmonized compositions.” says the artist. Indeed, whether on the walls of a gallery or at the owners’ discretion this harmony can be felt vividly yet peacefully. It is possible to experience Lisa Mee’s luminous world in many solo and group exhibitions alongside numerous corporate and private collections.
Check out all of Lisa Mee’s artworks on Kooness!
Cover image: Lisa Mee, Pristine Lake Champlain in Vermont, 2020, Courtesy of Leviton Fine Art Gallery
Written by Naz Akgun
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