Lisa Golightly | Near and Far

LISA GOLIGHTLY

LISA GOLIGHTLY

NEAR AND FAR

TAYLOE PIGGOTT GALLERY

NEAR AND FAR

“The photographer’s intentions do not determine the meaning of the photograph, which will have its own career, blown by the whims and loyalties of the diverse communities that have use for it.” – Susan Sontag (2003)

Lisa Golightly artistic career began with photography. Her father was a painter, and though she grew up exposed to his practice, she discovered her appreciation for photography at an early age. However, while working on her Fine Art Photography and Photojournalism BFA in Arizona, she found her way back to painting, developing an artistic practice which marries a deep technical and theoretical understanding of photography with painting. “As straightforward as it may sound, I have fallen in love with the brush, the color, the intimate experience of painting and creating my own world.”

old photography and film. From there, she reframes, rebuilds and reimagines existing subjects of these forgotten photos in the terms of her own memory. Working with acrylic, she paints in a distinct painterly style, always allowing the paint to pool and move. Her work references impressionism, pointillism, as well as the oeuvre of Fairfield Porter and Lois Dodd to create paintings that are both anonymous and inherently personal in nature.

“As straightforward as it may sound, I have fallen in love with the brush, the color, the intimate experience of painting and creating my own world.”

Today, Golightly’s artistic practice still begins with photography. She first scours the internet and estate sales for bundles of anonymous decades-

In the process of finding the photographs from which Golightly works, anonymity is key; though it would be easy to assume that her work begins with her own family photos due to the way her paintings conjure a sense of intimacy and nostalgia, Golightly purposefully selects photos without a known story, context, time

or place. She says, “The images are all found images, so they likely do come from all over, and they are not specific to a time or place. The images I’m drawn to, if I really dig in, relate to something I’ve experienced or a memory or family photographs. There’s definitely a personal level to it but also enough distance from the source image that I’m able to kind of like play with it and twist it a little more that I would with my own, personal imagery.” The resulting work straddles the line between the familiar and the anonymous, creating an uncanny gray area in which we can all find some part of ourselves, our history or our memory.

to enhance the imagery where her eye has found its focus, whether that’s a young boy exhibiting his toy airplane, a woman plucking a flower from a garden, or a man on a trail horse looking directly at the viewer.

Golightly “get[s] to put in details with paint and movement.” Subsequently, these paintings are more an exploration of memory than a visual reproduction of film photography, a bricolage of truth, interpretation and memory.

Golightly’s paintings differ significantly from the original images she draws from. She exaggerates light and color in a way that recalls old film photography, painting in pastel, washed out palettes that favors overexposed film. Before painting, Golightly removes excess detail she feels draws away from the overall images, often using Photoshop and a sketch tool to digitally amend the photo. She may change a color, remove the background, and alter the subjects in order

to something I’ve experienced or a memory or family photographs. There’s definitely a personal level to it but also enough distance from the source image that I’m able to kind of like play with it and twist it a little more that I would with my own, personal imagery.”

“My paintings seek to capture attempts to freeze moments and the inherent flaws in doing so. While my work often contains a sense of stillness and

“TheimagesI’mdrawnto,ifIreallydigin,relate

quiet found in photos, memory is in constant motion, changing, evolving or disappearing. My work explores this unstable and easily altered medium we so heavily rely on. Ultimately, I attempt to discover if these absences of details allow for the images to resonate with more clarity and depth.”

constructions, may they be staged or authentic, and the same photo means different things to different people. By choosing images stripped of their original context and transforming them into paintings with traditional brush strokes, Golightly shatters the aura of photographic truth, exposing and transcending the nature of her materials.

Golightly’s work probes the myth of photographic truth because it is predicated on the subjectivity of photography as she seeks to capture the universal experience of memory and nostalgia. The original photograph she works from, its subject, context, history, and intention are far less essential than her own memory and experience, and the ways these memories and experiences connect to those who view her work. Though a photograph is commonly regarded as a true and accurate documentation of a point in time due to photography’s scientific origins in chemistry and optics, really every photograph is an act amidst a complex structure of choices and contexts, all of which influence and define the photograph before, during, and after its production. Photos are always

“My paintings seek to capture attempts to freeze moments and the inherent flaws in doing so. While my work often contains a sense of stillness and quiet found in photos, memory is in constant motion, changing, evolving or disappearing.”

Golightly further explores the relations between memory, physical distance and the passage of time in this most recent body of work. Her method yields works that mimic memory, rather than how the photograph captured a now anonymous moment in time, in order to explore how time and place effect memory. The result is

works that capture the act of suspending time and the innate flaws in doing so. These works also explore the sense of collective memory, and the universal nature of human experience. Golightly comments that when procuring old photographs, “Strangely, a lot of times it’s like ‘Oh that could have been my family.’ It’s fascinating how a lot of images are something we all have, certain things, times or places that we all document similarly.”

Collector, Booooooom, Ppaper Magazine, Luxe Interior and Designs, The Huffington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. She has participated in art fairs including the Venice Art Walk in Venice Beach, California. Her art was selected for a promotional campaign in London, England in celebration of International Women’s Day. She was also chosen to produce an album cover and interior art for musician Alec Lytle. Golightly lives and works in Portland, Oregon, where she spends her days in the old carriage garage-turned-studio in the back yard of her 100-year-old home.

Born in Eugene, Oregon, Lisa Golightly studied at the University of Arizona where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fine Art Photography and Photojournalism in 1996. In addition to her exhibition with Tayloe Piggott Gallery, Golightly has had solo exhibitions with George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2020), Linda Hodges Gallery (Seattle, WA), Clove and Creek (Kingston, New York), Good Eye Gallery (Los Angeles, CA), among others. Her work has been featured in American Art

"It’s fascinating how a lot of images are something we all have, certain things, times or places that we all document similarly.”

INTO THE CANYON , 2023

Acrylic on aluminum dibond panel

30 x 30 inches

DONT FEED THE BEARS , 2023

Acrylic on aluminum dibond panel

40 x 40 inches

BLUE MORNING , 2023

Acrylic on aluminum dibond panel

40 x 80 inches

CATCH , 2021

Acrylic on aluminum dibond panel

16 x 20 inches

HIKERS , 2023

Acrylic on aluminum dibond panel

40 x 40 inches

RED FENCE , 2023

Acrylic on aluminum dibond panel

30 x 30 inches

HORSE IN SUN , 2023

Acrylic on aluminum dibond panel

10 x 10 inches

WALK IN THE SNOW , 2023

Acrylic on aluminum dibond panel

45 x 45 inches

SWING WITH COWBOY HAT , 2021

40

Acrylic on aluminum dibond panel

x 40 inches

BOYS ON TRAMPOLINE , 2023

Acrylic on aluminum dibond panel

30 x 30 inches

SMALL PLANES , 2023

Acrylic on aluminum dibond panel

30 x 30 inches

BOY WITH PLANE , 2023

Acrylic on aluminum dibond panel

20 x 20 inches

PICKING ROSES , 2023

Acrylic on aluminum dibond panel

40 x 40 inches

FLOWER GARDEN , 2023

Acrylic on aluminum dibond panel

16 x 16 inches

SAND TRAP , 2023

Acrylic on aluminum dibond panel

30 x 30 inches

IRIS , 2023

Acrylic on aluminum dibond panel

16 x 16 inches

LISA GOLIGHTLY

Born in Eugene, Oregon

Lives and works in Portland, Oregon

EDUCATION

1996 BFA in Studio Art, University of Arizona

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

2020 Ppaper Magazine, Special Issue, Taiwan

2018 Luxe Interiors and Design

2018 Huffington Post

2017 Colorado House and Home, Nov/Dec 2017

2015 Fresh Paint Magazine, spotlight artist, issue 7, April 2015

2015 Slice Magazine, Issue 16 spring/summer 2015

2014 The Wall Street Journal, The WSJ’s Art Guide, December 18, 2014

2014 Creative Block Book, Danielle Krysa, 2014

2013 Installation Magazine, A. Moret, Lisa Golightly: Flooded, July 2013

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2020 George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2020 Linda Hodges Gallery, Seattle, WA

2019 George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2018 Linda Hodges Gallery, Seattle, WA

2018 Clove and Creek, Kingston, New York

2016 Good Eye Gallery, Los Angeles CA

2014 Push Dot Studio, Portland, OR

2014 Good Eye Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2012 Blackbird Attic, Beacon, NY

2010 Tilde, Portland, OR

2009 Tilde, Portland, OR

OTHER

2020 Venice Art Walk, Juried. Venice Beach, CA

2019 Artist Residency, Chateau Orquevaux

2017 Venice Art Walk, Juried. Venice Beach, CA

2016 Venice Art Walk, Juried. Venice Beach, CA

2015 Album cover and interior art, Alec Lyttle