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Lisa Caballero

After graduating from Yale in 1978 with a Religious Studies degree, Lisa Caballero worked for twelve years as a computer programmer, while painting at night. After moving to New York in 1992 she found the traditional art education she had sought for years:

"I learned of the Boston painter R.H.Ives Gammell, who had died a decade earlier, and I found teachers who had studied with him. Gammell is a significant figure in American Realism, mainly because of his impact as a teacher. He taught a generation of artists in his private atelier, and his legacy can be seen in the spate of independent, non-degree granting ateliers which are revitalizing art education across the country.  As I mature, my dedication to Realism grows. To me, realism is about observing, or attending to a subject. It moves people because it bears witness to the ordinary. It is comforting to realize that somebody else notices, brushstroke by brushstroke, what you notice, and finds it significant.   But my understanding of Realism, and verisimilitude, is broadening. I'm noticing that American Realism seems to be becoming increasingly precise and descriptive, at the expense of the subjective experience of vision. Vision is messy, the world is infinitely complex, and I'm beginning to think that to be true to our experience, Realism should embrace both confusion and ambiguity...that it would be more "realistic" if it did."

Lisa Caballero is living and working in Portland, Oregon, loving the drizzly, grey skies with its soft light.

Visit Lisa Caballero's website.