Artist's Statement 2010

Most of the paintings I make are titled with slang or colloquial and familiar expressions. They are the words we hear in every day conversation; expressions which we have become so familiar with they blend seamlessly into our daily dialogue. This familiar form of language is ever present in the visual dialogue my paintings hold with their viewers. But, familiarity is a phantom. Familiarity is present, but ever evasive. It passes by us without acknowledgement. My paintings are familiar and colloquial, but according to their own standards, they're far too fabulous to know it.

I have always known that painting exists in every nuance, and in every crook and cranny of this life. An artist sees wonder and beauty in every moment of this existence; in every physical structure, every ugly thought, every terrible act and every elated moment. To this painter, all is beautiful….and the desire to have that beauty, whether it be an ugly beauty, or a beautiful, or horrific, or peaceful and dense and complicated one, is where the pursuit of my desire resides. The dynamic of this desire are these paintings' never ending compulsion in this ordinary and fascinating world.

Lisa Stefanelli
April, 2009