LA><ART entrance with Lisa Sigal’s Park Avenue, 2013. Photo by Michael Underwood.

Lisa Sigal (2012 Visual Arts) has a solo exhibition, Riverbed, on view at LA><ART in Los Angeles through February 23. Sigal’s installation brings together plein air landscapes, abstract geometric paintings, and architectural materials like drywall and window screens. I connected with Lisa to learn more about this new body of work and how it developed:

Jenny: Your work centers on architectural spaces, and some of your recent projects have been outdoor installations or “interventions” on existing architecture. Can you talk about how the work in the LA><ART show relates to that past work?

Lisa: The work I made in LA is part of an ongoing body of work responding to architecture and the built urban environment. For the most part, I am a studio artist who would like to push a painter’s concerns out onto the street. I am interested in responding to the particular qualities of a place—the studio, an exhibition or a public space—and what influences come to play.

My earlier works were large-scale paintings that responded to interiors and the details of how a room was constructed. When I started experimenting with working outdoors, it was exciting to leave the traditional canvas support and paint on the walls instead. They had their own history and texture. Each wall painting expanded my thinking about content and its source. For example, when I painted Women’s Balcony, on the drill hall wall of the Park Ave Armory, the painting felt like a quiet protest. When I painted a line that traversed NYC buildings and rooftops [for the New Museum project Line Up], the line connected properties and mapped a view of the neighborhood.

I’m interested in making connections between the work that I make outside and things I make in the studio. For the show at LA><ART, I wanted to respond to the architecture of Los Angeles—in particular, more marginal or precarious environments in the city.  Continue reading →