lisa wolfgramm

new works

19 may - 17 june 2017

Lisa Wolfgramm is one of Western Australia's most important mid career abstract painters. Previous exhibitions have revealed a painting practice in which she controls the surface of the work to an extraordinary degree.

Her early abstract paintings from around the year 2000, consisted of creating optical illusions in paint by carefully dragging a toothed squeegee through wet paint, each layer drying before another applied and dragged again, repeated to build up a strangely woven surface. These were followed by several years of paintings created from applying small daubs of paint in a layered gridded pattern that created optical illusions of movement and great beauty. In a 2010 series she filled large syringes with paint and carefully trickled this viscous liquid down the surface of each monochromatic canvas, just reaching the bottom edge to form a tiny drip and creating vivid optical illusions. Between each series of tightly controlled artworks Lisa often opts for a looser, or more gestural style, such as pouring paint, or in this case making sweeping gestures that flourish across the painted surface. It's as though she attempts to relax her highly refined techniques.

However, as viewers will see, the intense control remains. Lisa's paintings are always the result of systematic explorations of method and process, often following strict guidlines. Many small experimental works are created prior to each new body of work to study the reactions between colours and mediums, surfaces and canvas angles. In experimenting, Lisa often revisits previous bodies of work, expanding ideas not fully realised, or using new techniques and surfaces.

This is precisely what she has done in this new series of paintings. She recalled "during the early 2000's, I made paintings by pulling variously notched rubber squeegees through wet paint making patterns and implying, depth and movement. These were made on canvas and because of the movement in the canvas it was impossible to cut a clean path through the paint over the entire surface. As I wanted to treat these canvases as fields, I relied on layering to pull the surface together into a coherent whole."

Realising that this process still intrigued her, Lisa began experimenting with new firmer surfaces, such as aluminium and fibreglass. She again dragged the paint with her notched squeegee, and after many trials her gestural actions became fluid and confident, making bold sweeping waves across the surface creating paintings distinctly different from her earlier works. She stated that "The process is a seductive one and it seems important to impose some rules to give structure and cohesion to the body of work. The latest paintings are made with a single continuous gesture entering and exiting the field at predetermined points." The results are spectacular. Sensual forms fold forwards and back on themselves, deceiving the eye with their simple geometry.

Lisa Wolfgramm was born in Victoria, but lived and worked in Perth for many years before relocating to Darwin in 2007. She studied at Curtin University in Perth and completed her Masters by Research in 2013 at Charles Darwin University. Her paintings can be found in the collections of the Art Gallery of WA, Artbank, Murdoch University, Curtin University, Bankwest, City of Perth, University of WA, Royal Perth Hospital, Cruther's Collection of Womens' Art, Leeuwin Estate Art Series, Edith Cowan University, City of Fremantle, City of Joondalup and several others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

lisa wolfgramm artwork
painting #431
oil on aluminium
80 x 120cm
2016
$3,800 sold
lisa wolfgramm artwork
painting #433
oil on aluminium
120 x 80cm
2016
$3,800
lisa wolfgramm artwork
painting #434
oil on aluminium
120 x 80cm
2016-17
$3,800 sold
lisa wolfgramm artwork
painting #435
oil on fibreglass
120 x 120cm
2016
$5,300
lisa wolfgramm artwork
painting #436
oil on fibreglass
120 x 120cm
2016
$5,300
lisa wolfgramm artwork
painting #437
oil on fibreglass
120 x 150cm
2016
$6,200 sold
lisa wolfgramm artwork
painting #438
oil on aluminium
80 x 120cm
2016
$3,800
lisa wolfgramm artwork
painting #439
oil on aluminium
120 x 120cm
2016
$5,300 sold
lisa wolfgramm artwork
painting #440
oil on aluminium
120 x 80cm
2016
$3,800
lisa wolfgramm artwork
painting #441
oil on aluminium
120 x 120cm
2017
$5,300
lisa wolfgramm artwork
painting #442
oil on aluminium
90 x 120cm
2016
$4,100
lisa wolfgramm artwork
painting #443
oil on aluminium
80 x 120cm
2016
$3,800
lisa wolfgramm artwork
painting #444
oil on aluminium
150 x 120cm
2016
$6,200
lisa wolfgramm artwork
painting #445
oil on aluminium
120 x 120cm
2016-17
$5,300
lisa wolfgramm artwork
painting #446
oil on aluminium
150 x 120cm
2016
$6,200
lisa wolfgramm artwork
painting #447
oil on aluminium
120 x 120cm
2016
$5,300
lisa wolfgramm artwork
painting #448
oil on aluminium
90 x 120cm
2017
$4,100
lisa wolfgramm artwork
painting #449
oil on aluminium
90 x 120cm
2017
$4,100
lisa wolfgramm artwork
painting #450
oil on aluminium
120 x 80cm
2017
$3,800
lisa wolfgramm artwork
painting #451
oil on aluminium
120 x 80cm
2017
$3,800
lisa wolfgramm artwork
painting #452
oil on aluminium
120 x 80cm
2017
$3,800
lisa wolfgramm artwork
painting #453
oil on aluminium
120 x 80cm
2017
$3,800 sold
lisa wolfgramm artwork
painting #454
oil on aluminium
120 x 120cm
2017
$5,300
lisa wolfgramm artwork
painting #455
oil on aluminium
150 x 120cm
2017
$6,200