George Billis Gallery LA | Through 11/12 | Los Angeles, CA

Traveling Through Memories

George Billis Gallery LA hosts the nostalgic paintings of Lisa Golightly.

Now hanging at George Billis Gallery LA, are new, nostalgia-driven paintings by Lisa Golightly. The artist continues to build on previous themes and subject matter involving people at leisure—usually at a pool or beach—inspired by vintage photographs and videos. While Golightly connects to her subject matter on a deep level, it’s also important to her that her viewers connect as well. She does this by teasing out scenes of simpler, joyful times that so many can relate to.High and Low, acrylic on aluminum diabond panel, 50 x 50"

“Lisa Golightly’s paintings exist in a compelling space between representation and abstraction,” notes Tressa Williams, partner at George Billis Gallery LA. “Referencing the vintage found photographs she uses as source material, the high gloss surface is gorgeously nuanced and delicate—her mark-making leaving little evidence of a brush. Great washes of sky flow while the figures are built up of tiny color fields that splinter into abstraction when viewed up close.”

New to the series are much larger vistas than the artist has painted in the past, with pieces measuring at 50 by 60 inches at their largest. Golightly starts her process with smaller sketches and then she expands her scenery to a much larger scale—purposely losing some of the finer details. “I often find that when you focus on one tiny bit of an overall image, it tells a better story,” she says. “A lot of times, I’ll focus on specific characters within an image. I like to have a question of what’s happening, and that usually comes from the interaction of the people in the image.”Chlorine Scented, acrylic on aluminum diabond panel, 48 x 36"

An example of this is seen in the show piece High and Low, where several figures are sitting or standing on a swimming pool diving board. “This is a detail of a much larger scene,” Golightly explains. “I took a lot out to focus on these relationships happening.” The painting evokes questions like: Why are they spaced out that far? What’s their personal relationship?

Cards is cropped from an original photograph to allow the viewer to explore their own story. It shows three figures playing a card game. “Usually my images involve memories from childhood,” says Golightly of her recollection of playing card games as a child. “When I had kids, I realized you re-experience your childhood through their childhood. It reignites something you forgot in your past.”Warmed by the Sun, acrylic on aluminum diabond panel, 60 x 50"

Golightly also recalls pools and beaches being a big part of her childhood memories—recalling those summer experiences “when you feel free and time has a little less meaning,” she says. Additional works like Chlorine Scented and Warmed by the Sun, of people lounging at the beach and pool, conjure feelings of warm, happy memories.Cards, acrylic on aluminum diabond panel, 40 x 40"“I’m hoping that someone can find a connection, positive or personal, that draws them in and makes them contemplate their own relationships and experiences,” she says. “I like a little mystery that allows them to live within the image itself.” —