Lisa Edelstein

Lisa Edelstein mines her own family history in works that transform vintage photographs into compositions that acutely capture the color and texture of a particular moment in time. The images are candid, the figures largely unposed and caught off-guard, implying action on either side of the frozen moment depicted. Edelstein’s interest in storytelling arises across the various avenues of her artistic practice, including painting, writing, and acting.

Edelstein’s paintings are deeply rooted in the Jewish diasporic experience of growing up within a multigenerational family whose elders fled violence and discrimination to find success in the new world. The lush surroundings of her paintings – designed interiors, new cars, dance lessons – signal a flourishing made possible by this new start in America, while also firmly rejecting the deprivations of wartime Europe that hover in the recent past.

The paintings maintain the feel of a snapshot throughout, mimicking the scale and shape of the scrapbook down to the square polaroid and oval-cut portrait. Edelstein’s watercolor medium perfectly suits the soft lines and haze of memory that characterize old photographs. Moments gain new meaning in translation, as details reveal themselves through close observation and magnification. Her works transport the viewer to a different time, and are filled with tenderness towards the jumble of personalities and physical spaces that bring a family to life.  

Lisa Edelstein (b. 1966, Boston, MA) attended NYU Tisch School of the Arts before leaving to work as an actress, writer and filmmaker, eventually expanding her practice to painting. Her artwork has been exhibited with Anat Ebgi Gallery, Charlie James Gallery, and Gavlak Gallery and her art practice has been profiled in Forbes Magazine. Edelstein's practice is contemplative and reflective, intimate, personal and extremely rigorous. Through the lens of both the female and Jewish gaze, she draws you in, welcoming you into her family while also holding a mirror up to your own.

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