Natural State *

Biography

Lisa Kellner’s paintings and sculptural constructions have been exhibited throughout the United States and internationally. In 2006, her work was curated into the Conversions exhibition in DC, curated by Sam Gilliam. Her work can be found in private residences and commercial spaces in the United States, Europe and Japan. Exhibiting institutions include the Bellevue Arts Museum (WA), the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (NY), the Brooklyn Arts Council (NY), the Weatherspoon Museum (NC), the Islip Art Museum, Washington Project for the Arts and the Muscarelle Museum of Art (VA), among others. She has created site-responsive installations for institutions including the Cornell Fine Arts Museum (FL), the Bellevue Arts Museum (WA), Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Swing Space (NY), Brooklyn Arts Council (NY), the Center for Maine Contemporary Art (ME), Lehman College Art Gallery (NY) and the Target Gallery at the Torpedo Factory (VA) among many others. Kellner’s work has been reviewed and mentioned in publications including The New York Times, The Boston Globe and Sculpture Magazine in addition to several podcast and interview series. She has received several awards including the New Media Invitational from the Target Gallery, DC and was nominated a Joan Mitchell Emerging Artist semi-finalist in 2016. Her work is represented by Artemis Gallery (ME), Carver Hill Gallery (ME), Campbell Collective, (SC) and Artspace (NY). A former New Yorker with roots in Virginia, Lisa lives and works on Deer Isle in coastal Maine. She travels often to explore other notions of place.

Artist Statement

"My paintings and sculptural constructions begin with an intense immersion into the natural world and an obsessive interest in observing how objects hold memory. Working intuitively, I’m interested in how the subconscious comingles with the physical through recognition, observation and instinctive mark making. My work is concerned with activating this space in the painting. Perception and the way space is inhabited, directly impact my understanding of the world. In my work, they are altered, tweaked, inflated and compressed.

"The slight angle of a tree trunk, a series of telephone lines, a slept in bed or a particular pattern of water current become communicators of emotion, feeling and experiential place. A blending occurs between the simplicity of form and the complex nature of thought, bringing the resulting work to its essence."