Lisa Gizara was born on the east coast and raised in a small town in Massachusetts. Enamored by the colors of nature, she was transfixed by clouds, thunderstorms, lush farmer’s fields and the reflection of light on lakes. Taking plein-air painting lessons at only 12-years old, she developed her love of landscape painting and color.

Gizara’s early work was influenced by the romantic realist and Hudson River School painter George Inness, and after attending a retrospective of his work at New York’s Metropolitan Museum, his pantings left her breathless and dedicated to capturing the beauty of landscape.

Gizara attended art school at UMass South Dartmouth and her studies eventually lead her to a more abstract rendering of nature after seeing William Turner’s turbulent paintings. Her work has steadily become more abstract. Moving to Los Angeles in the late 80’s she continued to paint and show her work until present day. Her passionate and gestural style of painting is most likened to the Abstract Expressionists Joan Mitchell, Grace Hartigan and Helen Frankenthaler. Painting mostly with her hands, she fills her paintings with color, light, passion and gestural shapes and then coalesces them into vibrant yet calming compositions.

"One of the remarkable things about Lisa Gizara's work is the duality of expression between her mysterious black and white photos and the explosive abstract paintings she produces. Massive in scope and filled with serene haunting images of nature and architecture, Gizara's photography has a pure and somber photojournalistic tone that carries from series to series. Gizara’s energetic, expressive and liberated paintings harken abstract expressionism. Her colorful abstracts reflect her love of landscape, the black and white paintings reflect passion and chaos. There is a simultaneous calming and excitement in the non-verbal exchange in her pieces."

Her paintings have been shown at The Colorida Gallery in Lisbon, Portugal, The C Gallery in Los Alamos, California & The Venice Art Walk. Gizara’s photographs have been shown in exhibitions at the SFO Museum, The Annenberg Space for Photography and the G2 Gallery in Venice, CA. Gizara’s paintings and photographs have graced the sets of Mad Men, Inventing Anna, Better things, The Flight Attendant, CSI, Bel Air, The Lincoln Lawyer, Mayans,The Kominsky Method, You, Captain Marvel, Modern Family, and Ray Donovan. Actors Bruce Dern and Jennifer Lawrence have added Gizara’s work to their private collections. A portfolio of Gizara’s artwork was included the 2014 Oscar Nominee Gift Bags. 

Rebecca Rose, Art Writer, The Santa Maria Sun