LEMEEKportfolio

Press Release:

Lisa Meek’s delicate yet energetic paintings effectively mix Americana kitschness with alluring Pop sensibilities to create works whose message narrates to its viewer the exhilarating, but ultimately transient nature of passionate love and desire.  Her figures, mostly women and often naked, speak to Western (and perhaps now more and more often Eastern) notions of beauty which, before Botox and silicone, were only attainable for the genetically fortunate. These nameless women, sprinkled throughout the paintings, reflect not only common standards of beauty, but also suggest the inevitable power that comes with it. “BOOM’s” and “POP’s” surround them adding a playfulness to the work, while their assumed source, that is comic books, remind the viewer of mythical heroes, unstoppable but for a single weakness. And what are these women weaknesses? While they may invite ogling stares, how much of their presumably plastic bodies is real? Can perfect dolls find perfect love? Or are superficial bodies destined for artificial relationships? What we desire and what we attract may be two very different things.

Meek's illuminations, though grander in scale than their medieval and religious counterparts, can be viewed with a similar perception. In the past illuminated manuscripts were a tangible example of a person’s wealth and education. Their function included not only the worship of God, but also a much more subtle worship of materiality. Similarly Meek’s paintings, covered in gold leaf and tiny Barbie doll women, offer the viewer a familiar sense of wealth and status. Not so similarly, however, are the paintings explosive qualities, (particularly the energy captured in the vertically narrow works), which speak to our consumer obsessed world in which the underlying message of materiality is hardly restrained. Here, status and wealth appear in the form of beauty. A passion for God is substituted with a passionate desire for an earthly love. Not that the heavenly realm is left behind entirely. The mischievous cherubs that appear in many of the works bring an ethereal quality to these "postmodern pop illuminations."

Artist Statement:

There is a very human need to feel desired and loved.  Our quests for “soul mates” and lovers can lead us down a perilous path, into the proverbial rabbit hole that is both exhilarating and terrifying. In this enchanting state adoration and the desire of physical pleasure and delicate beauty can often be confused for love. The tiny voluptuous women that circulate my paintings are each a clone of the next, with their teeny tiny waists and perfect Barbie doll faces reflecting our Western notions of this enviable beauty. Each is alone in her search for love, seemingly unaware of the influences from heaven and earth, as well as the inevitable power that comes with her perfect attributes. The pleasure of looking, whether at these flawless women or the delicate gold leaf that surrounds them, can leave you lost, or perhaps even trapped, in an overwhelming state of superficial gratification. Love, it seems, becomes eclipsed by lust.

 Now the competition to be seen as beautiful and desired has reached new heights.  In my paintings the comic book styling of  “BOOM!” and “POP!,”  juxtaposed with Americana inspired tattoo hearts, emphasizes the playful but also fickle nature of our quest for love.  We long for a love as permanent as a tattoo, but can it really endure? These paintings, which I call neo pop illuminations for lack of better terminology, are disjointed narratives incorporating fairytales, pop culture and my own life experiences.  They speak to the ephemeral nature of our current values of love and lust and the things we worship, such as beauty and materiality.  Just as the paintings have multiple layers of gold, silver and transparent color, I see the world in similar hues.  A caution to me: all that glitters is not gold.