Exhibitions
Intimacy Exhibition 2020
“Intimacy” is the title of Lisette’s latest collection of artworks scheduled for exhibition in the year 2020. The collection consists of both existing works selected for their particularly apt portrayals of intimacy; as well as new works created to express the artist’s understanding of the concept of intimacy. This understanding, both innate and socially constructed, is explored within this collection.
Intimacy manifest itself in an endless variety of intra-personal and interpersonal relationships. Be it the unconditional love a mother has for her child, the companionship between man and his pet, classic romantic love, or the self-love we all hope to both attain and retain. For how can we love others if we know not yet how to love ourselves. Love thyself, and be loved.
I used a house plan as that is where we are confined to stay at present; needing to re-evaluate, make changes, and adapt to the times we are in. It is a letter of application to the local municipality – just as we now, more than ever, find ourselves strictly controlled by the State as to what is essential and what we can or cannot do.
The close confines of our homes forces us to look deeply at our intimate relationships and establish our allies. We are in this together: we all feel vulnerable and the need for comfort and reassurance like small children.
21 Days. 21 Artists. 21 Impacts.
The story of the South African lockdown, told through the virtual artists of the country.
About Lisette
Philosophical Underpinnings of Lisette’s Current Artistic Identity
“I paint to fill the need to create. Constantly experimenting with media and subject matter. The compulsion to recycle pushes me towards mixed media. Cape Town and it’s people provide contradictions and contrasts to work from. Every day is an inspiration . The need to revel and reflect life’s beauty drives me to create. To share the delight in the seemingly ordinary.” – Lisette Forsyth
Lisette Forsyth is as passionate and dedicated to living a fulfilling and creative lifestyle as she is to her artistic process. As such, it should come as no surprise that her lived experience of being a women, mother, daughter, lover, artist, worker, model, photographer, graphic designer, surfer, and globe trotter serve largely as the inspiration for her creative outlet. Drawing inspiration on a daily basis through her deeply personal as well as public life she is able to bring to life the nuances of the human experience on her mixed media canvases. Harnessing the world around her in every aspect imaginable, she works primarily on recycled materials such as rusted steal, drift wood, historic newspapers and maps, as well as old books and construction plans, giving a second life to these once discarded and disregarded surfaces. But creativity does not stop there. Once a surface has been carefully selected from the rejected “waste materials” of our society, it may take days, weeks, months or even years for inspiration to strike. Taking lessons from her early education in graphic design and print making, Lisette understands the importance of paying homage to her canvases by marrying the correct surface with the correct subject matter. The result of such patience and imaginative couplings between surface and subject is both visually spectacular and deeply thought provoking. One speaks to the other, enriching the subjective value and meaning to be found in each and every piece by opening up a dialogue between surface and subject, between artist and art, observer and observed. In this way, Lisette aims to create works that speak not only to the intellectual art connoisseur, but to the ordinary man women and child; not only of the spectacular and sensational, but of the ordinary and often overlooked details of the endlessly inspiring world that naturally surrounds us all.
Lisette’s national as well as international recognition and success are a testament to her ruthless dedication and boundless imaginative capacity. Not only has she exhibited across Sothern Africa, but has managed to cross boarders as far reaching as galleries in New York, Portugal and Munich. This should serve as a reflection of her flexibility in culturally determined artistic style and taste. Her work is ever changing and adapting to the social, political and cultural climate of the time, and is perhaps the reason why she is able to not only reach, but touch such a vast audience.
Uncategorized
Women of the world
> An exhibition at Manz Art
http://www.manzart.com
Women: the rhythm of the world.
Humankind quickens in their wombs and pines in their absence. They nourish us in our youth and sooth us in our troubles. Families revolve around them and they are the source of sustenance.With a child on their backs, wherever women are is home.
These portraits from North and South Africa, the Mediterranean, Eastern Europe and the Americas, capture the nobility of half of humanity, whether striding through the world, caring for their children or just being wholly themselves.
Ecco mulieribus: behold the women.
2018
Available Art
VARIOUS INDIVIDUAL PIECES
Most of the pieces found bellow are available at various galleries within South Africa, many at my Art Studio in Woodstock. As will become apparent, Lisette enjoys using a variety of recycled surfaces as her canvases. Taking inspiration from not only her surroundings but from the surfaces themselves she is able to create works that have a life of their own. The subject speaks to the canvas, and the canvas speaks back- opening up a channel for multidirectional dialogue which extends beyond the artwork itself.
Lisette encourages observers to look closely at the artworks in her collection, imaginatively allowing themselves to solve the puzzles which lie beneath. There are no correct answers, and beyond creating a dialogue within her art she hopes to create a dialogue between her art and its observers. Taking creative liberties will allow her audience to explore the subjective meaning they project onto her work, and may well allow them to reverse the gaze and explore the origin of such projections within themselves.
Bars // Life drawing; 59 x 84 CM. Available at Stateoftheart.
INTIMACY
Intimacy manifest itself in an endless variety of intra-personal and interpersonal relationships. Be it the unconditional love a mother has for her child, the companionship between man and his pet, classic romantic love, or the self-love we all hope to both attain and retain. For how can we love others if we know not yet how to love ourselves. Love thyself, and be loved.
Intimacy exhibition 2020
CUBA SERIES
HOOKED
Taking a dramatic turn back to still life amidst an explosion of art created around the human subject can be a challenge for any artist, but Lisette believes that it is important to incorporate diversity into her artistic process if she wishes to keep her artistic expression exciting and current.
NEW YORK COLLECTION
Poetry is as diverse and inspiring as art. During the Romantic period of human creativity and innovation it was Wordsworth who described poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.” Following such a definition much the same is true of art, and certainly of the art Lisette creates.
Her Goal is to experience life fully present, to absorb the smells, sights, sounds, feelings and atmosphere around her at all times. This is particularly true of her time spent traveling. As such, most of the art you find in this collection takes inspiration from Lisette’s lived experiences whilst on the go, unable to document in real time the emotions and imaginative ramblings they evoke. Thus, it is in tranquility and upon reflection that such things, such feelings and emotions flood her brain and overflow onto the canvases before her, the result being art of a poetic nature.
Love yOUR mOTHER
The goal of much of Lisette’s later work has been social, political and cultural commentary. The point of this is not to shame and vilify groups of people or the system at large, but rather to productively build society up by drawing attention to largely under-appreciated or misunderstood aspects of our modern world.
The environment has been a passionate focus of Lisette’s during the year 2020, and the piece bellow seeks to illustrate a fundamental aspect of climate change and global warming overlooked by most. This being that our relationship to the environment is a reflection of our relationship with ourselves and others. “love yOUR mOTHER” is the title of this artwork, and draws attention to the highly personal bond that humans in fact have with the natural environment. We are a product of the natural world, just as we are our own mothers whom brought us into this world, and we should thus love, protect and defend this earth as we would our own mothers. We cannot function without the life supporting systems of this planet, and to neglect the planet is to neglect ourselves and others. If you do not love your other you cannot hope to save the environment, for without altruism the motivation to create a better future is lost.
Love your mother
love our mother
love your other.
PORTUGAL COLLECTION
For Lisette, traveling is about collecting more than just memories and experience. On her travels she often ventures into small thrift stores and book shops, communicating with locals and interacting within their more ordinary public spaces. This allows her a small window into the nuances of their culturally determined lives, thus enhancing her ability to create art which accurately reflects their unique lived experiences. Not only does this allow Lisette to forge bonds with local citizens which often stretch across time and space beyond her travel adventures, but she is too able to collect beautiful local books, maps and other artefacts which in turn become the canvases on which she represents these people. The collection documented bellow is an example of the fruits of her creative process, both canvas and subject brining unique elements of subjective interpretation to the table.
Nuns for Nature
Most mornings Lisette starts her day by making her way down to the beach for her daily walk and yoga, she uses this time to reconnect with herself and ground down through the earth. The stillness of the morning combined with the rhythmic beating of the ocean waves provide a meditative environment in which to tune into whats happening within and around her. During this solitary time she often experiences great insights and sets important intentions for the day ahead. Sometimes she prays, sometimes she meditates, sometimes she cries, sometimes she laughs. On more than one occasion she has emerged from her meditative state with her intentions set on helping a friend or reducing her carbon footprint, only to open her eyes and be rewarded by Mother Earth. On one such morning after contemplating the state of the environment she opened her eyes to find R200 flailing in the breeze, clinging to the damp morning sand. No more coincidences. That morning she resolved to be warrior for the world, a nun for nature.
The artwork bellow takes its inspiration from her experience of being connected to the earth in a very spiritual way. she speaks to the world and the world speaks back, sending her signs that she is on the right track.
TRANSMUTATION COLLECTION
Lisette takes the discarded materials of modern work and transmutes their surfaces into artefacts with a powerful appeal to current artistic sensibilities.
“Scarred wood, rusted steel, battered metal and builder’s planks are all grist to my grinder, saw and paint brush. The story of each piece is transmutation, the outcome, I hope, is enchantment.”
– Lisette Forsyth
Color me Pretty
PRAGUE COLLECTION
Recycling existing materials is the foundation and inspiration for much of the work Lisette does. Bellow is just a small example of the variety of outcomes that can be achieved by up-cycling the discarded and disregarded “waste” material of modern society. Upon close observation it becomes evident how the subject matter speaks to the canvas, and the canvas to its subject. Lisette likes to create a dialogue with her art, allowing the subject matter and canvas not only to communicate with and enrich one another, but also to communicate with the audience, enriching their subjective understanding of what they see before them. This particular collection took its inspiration from Lisette’s travel adventures in Prague, both the canvases and subject matter being locally sourced and mindfully coupled to create thought provoking works of art.
