I tend to work from the inside out. Working in Series appeals to me since it allows development of an idea, whether visual or spiritual. In earlier years I found much inspiration in nature and relationships, while in the recent past I have been profoundly influenced by global events.
“We’re All Warriors”
Oil on canvas – 2003
The painting is both political and personal. The political aspect is a departure from my body of work as a whole, but one that I find myself expressing more and more as our world becomes increasingly “Global”. How could I not respond to the ravages of impending war, and its effects both culturally and spiritually, physically and emotionally? It is personal with regard to the concept that war exists on all levels – the war within us, with lovers, in every day relationships. We Are All Warriors in our internalized struggle for identity and personal freedom. In terms of process, it is abstract and intuitive. In its entirety, it absolutely reflects the way I work, being informed both from the inside, and the out.
“Women in War Series I - IV”
Mixed media on paper – 2004
Women in War is a series of paintings I’ve been developing during the past several years in response to troubling global issues pressing our world today. As we become increasingly involved in war on a global level, I am overwhelmed and saddened by its degrading effect on our humanity, our cultures and spirituality. The “Women in War Series”, specifically addresses the juxtaposition of the feminine aspect with that degradation. Women as nurturers, caretakers and providers of nourishment have been compelled to take up arms, become vigilantes, protectors. As ones whose nature it is to endure, preserve and balance, the out-of-placeness of war is poignant. In terms of process, the nature of mixed
media allowed my conscious/unconscious to become intertwined, letting images emerge and meld.
Plaster on Canvas series - 2005
The plaster on canvas series, of which "Tsunami Boat", "Tsunami - Animus & Aftermath", "Tsunami Kundalini Wave", "Angels and the Flesh" and "Mysterious Portrait" are a part, was begun as purely textural. I intended to simply play with color and limited myself to a subtle palette. During this time the earthquake and resulting tsunami in December 2004 hit Thailand and surrounding areas. Images started making their way through my consciousness and into the plaster and oil - faces, figures, energy, movement.
What’s Lost, What’s Left, What Emerges, What Comes …”
Plaster on board series - 2006
As the title suggests, this work is borne of a period of loss. Coming to terms with the idea – no, the reality of death and passing. Of its mystery. Unfathomability. Time with a loved one in the physical sense is suddenly lost, or stops. Of the essence of those spirits that remain within us and surround us. Their powerful presence. Expressed in a myriad of faces and forms. But where do souls really go?
Relationships and patterns that
meet an end. What’s left is s p a c e for what comes.
Process: Plaster and wire over board with oil and mixed
media. Texture.
Field for the movement of souls …..
Alchemize 1
Oil on canvas - 2008, 56" x 84"
"In the history of science, alchemy from Arabic refers to both an early form of the investigation of nature and an early philosophical and spiritual discipline, both combining elements of chemistry, metallurgy, physics, medicine, astrology, semiotics, mysticism, spritualism and art all as parts of one greater force."
OIL. The commodity of oil. Source of fuel ... and as such presently, the source of much global woe, war, devastation of culture, humanity, economy and the environment.
In the painting, figure of a woman crouched over in grief and overcome by light all at once - perhaps some higher power? One can only hope. Dead child or innocent being lies beneath her on the sand. Submarine looms behind her, breaking the surface. Sky spews smoke. What could this be but a scene of war, even in its apparent benign grayness?
Lisa Dombek
Portland, ME USA
