New York City is a constant source of inspiration for Lisa Breslow. Raised on Long Island and trained at the Art Students League, she seeks out places of quiet and calm within the busy urban landscape, distilling them to their essence. Her impressionistic oil paintings on panel blend realism and abstraction — neither a literal portrayal nor pure invention — activated by mood, energy, and light rather than subject alone.
Both the natural world and architectural grit have a place in Breslow's work, and it is the tension between these opposing forces that gives her paintings their charge. By capturing the specificity of light affected by weather and season, she turns otherwise bustling scenes into meditative moments. Loose brushstrokes softened by atmosphere are grounded by assured draftsmanship, while bursts of color lead the eye and delineate form. She frequently rotates her oil painting on panel, as she works, seeking new perspectives on the composition.
The process of choosing what to paint is intuitive. As Breslow describes it: "I tend to gravitate toward scenes that are quieter and more meditative. It's always the lighting that draws me in — its interplay of colors and forms that evokes a particular feeling or mood." Her paintings are introspective snapshots of everyday surroundings, feeling at once optimistic and tender — the memory of a place distilled into a centering balance, even as her work inches ever closer toward abstraction.
Lisa Breslow has exhibited extensively in the United States, including recently at the Heritage Museum and the Heckscher Museum. She has been awarded two Pollock-Krasner Foundation awards, as well as an award from the National Academy Museum in New York, and was an Invited Artist at the Center for Contemporary Printmaking. She lives and works in New York City.
Lisa Breslow is represented by Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, with gallery locations in Chelsea, New York City - at 529 West 20th Street and 179 10th Avenue. Her work is available for purchase through the gallery and on Artsy.