the bio and statement...

my bio and artist's statement....

the statement:

LISA GRAZIOTTO, ARTIST STATEMENT-2007

I am a painter. My work is derived from the snapshot images I see out the passenger side of the car window while travelling. I spend part of the year working intensely on commissioned animal portraits and so while travelling, I’m caught up in the scenery that surrounds me. The things that attract me seem to have an empty, lonely feel to them. I sense that although the human presence has disappeared, their soul remains in the buildings and fields that once provided them with life. The idea to paint in a small format was something that started as an exercise to clear my head from painting medium to large scale work for most of the year. Transforming ‘life’ into a small format brings the viewer into an intimate conversation with each painting that is before them, creating an illusion of a ‘separate reality’. Instead of just watching the world go by they are asked to step forward and contemplate what they are looking at.

My goal is to continue to work in the small format, painting several pieces a week until I have painted the entire continent.


the bio:

I was born in a one room school house.Electricity and water were all but a dream. My parents were circus performers who immigrated from a country that no longer exists. The childhood that followed my birth was average for a Canadian girl growing up in the early seventies. bell bottoms, a six million dollar man shirt, a dorothy hamil hairstyle and a banana seat bicycle were some of the things that I had, along with a box of crayons with a built-in pencil sharpener. I carried my crayons everywhere and drew all the time on almost everything. Years later after puberty took its’ hold on me and changed my outlook on life permanently, I found myself leavIng that small town for the bright lights of the big smoke where I enrolled in a fine arts programme at a university. I stayed on as a student for a while then found myself disillusioned with the lack of inspiration that came from the faculty. So I left to find a mentor, someone who would inspire me, teach me, guide my creativity to find it’s own voice. That mentor was found in the many books I’ve acquired over the years. I’ve found my inspiration through my travels and spendIng time following the footsteps of some of my ‘heroes’ of the art world. The journey I'm on is one that will never end thus my education will go on as long as I continue to study my mentors and remain true to myself.