Folk Modern art
What do you call that style?
When I was a young artist, I yearned for a style.I know now it can take years for an artist to recognize her own hand, which was always there but difficult to recognize at first. What I came to understand primarily is that I enjoy contrasts and juxtapositions in the art I make:
Rustic + Refined or Naive + Sophisticated or Folk + Modern
Folk — because the folk hand has always been a natural one, none too perfect, with a tendency towards whimsical decoration. Mid-century Scandinavian design comes to mind.And Modern — inherited by anyone born in the 20th century, particularly this child of an architect — modern worships an abundance of white space, simplication of complex forms, along with a playful geometry.The real fun is dancing between the two, folk and modern, modern and folk.
On Black
Why start with black? is the evergreen FAQ.One answer is that my artist brain seems to thrive when challenged to work off a dark substrate, in reverse of the usual light-to-dark procedure. Black gessoed panels beg to be brought into the light.Then, too, against a uniform background I can easily correct or refine my edges and dark fields are more forgiving than light ones. The shallow depth-of-field allows me to concentrate on the intricacies of the foreground.But there is more. Black is the darling, not-so-secret weapon of fashion designers and decorators for good reason. Placing even one black object in a room lends it weight and keeps the whole from being blandly insipid.Black as a color is powerful and dramatic, but also oddly restful and grounding.As I tell my collectors, Think of my works as a little black dress for your walls.
Paintings on Black by Lisa Firke
Unicorn Tapestry, acrylic on canvas, 18x18 inches, © Lisa Firke.
Blue Barley Castle, acrylic on canvas, 6x6 inches, © Lisa Firke/
Griffin Tapestry, acrylic on canvas, 18x18 inches, © Lisa Firke.
Fox and Foxgloves, acrylic on canvas, 24x12 inches, © Lisa Firke
Topiary Chicken, acrylic on canvas, 12x12 inches, © Lisa Firke.
Pink Barley Castle, acrylic on canvas, 6x6 inches, © Lisa Firke.
Coffee Pot & Hare, acrylic on Claybord panel, 8x8 inches, © Lisa Firke.
Peacock & Fountain, acrylic on canvas, 24x12 inches, © Lisa Firke.
Originals in private collections.
Selected prints coming soon.
