Lisa Shinault Artist Statement:

“Difficult Women” is an evolving idea that has been the main focus of my artwork for several years.  Each painting has had essential areas replaced, added onto, or removed altogether.  This idea came about when my artwork along with countless hours, were seemingly lost, because I would always change my mind…painting over areas almost endlessly.  I had an epiphany when I decided to literally cut a portion out of the canvas, save it for another artwork, and then replace the ‘hole’ with something else.  Razor blades and scissors are never far from my palette, markedly expressing things my brushes and paint cannot.  “Off with her head…and on with another!”  The ‘Dr. Frankenstein’ element in this process gives me great excitement when ‘creating’. This gives me the freedom to change my mind with endless results.  I rearrange my subjects much like a flower display…until it feels right, or so wrong that it IS right!

For the show at ‘Blue Mark Studios’, I was inspired by a painting I made years ago around 1995 titled “Life and Death”.  It is a long 16 ft. canvas on 4 connecting panels depicting oversize ferrets interacting with colorful figures representing life and death.  The ‘far-out’ freedom I tapped into when painting “Life and Death” has been revived in various ways for the artwork in this show. Most LiShinault art is known to have a powerful female element, and that is still very evident in most of these as well.

--LiShinault 2011

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