BIO

Lisa Tubach has exhibited her work in solo and group exhibitions in numerous locations, including New York, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Virginia, Missouri, Ohio, Nebraska, Georgia, Alaska and Tokyo, Japan. She is currently affiliated with The Drawing Center's Viewing Program in New York. Recent exhibitions include "Dangerous and Lovely Systems," a solo invitational at the Stalder Gallery in Falls City, NE (2009); “Escapes” at the Gallery Blue in Nantucket, MA (2008); “Spirit,” an invitational exhibition at the Museum of Nebraska Art (2008); “Synthesis,” an exhibition on science and art at the International Gallery of Contemporary Art in Anchorage, Alaska (2007); "LOUD" at the Arts & Literature Laboratory Gallery in New Haven, CT (2007); "Pure Painting" at the Woman Made Gallery in Chicago (2006) and a solo show at the Kansas City Artists’ Coalition in 2005. Her work is included in private collections in Boston, New York, Kansas City, Atlanta and Chicago. In addition, she has received residency fellowships from the Vermont Studio Center, Dorland Mountain Artists Colony and competitive research grants from James Madison University (JMU). Tubach holds a B.A. from Macalester College, an M.F.A. from Michigan State University, and a certificate in digital video production from New York University. She currently holds the position of Assistant Professor of Art at JMU and teaches both undergraduate and graduate students. Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, Tubach currently lives and works in Harrisonburg, VA.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My creative work investigates a balance between the beauty of our natural world and veiled threats to our existence. Most recently, the content of my work springs from the research of critically-endangered species, the perils of unchecked chemical use, maps of threatened areas, and various related pathogens.

I am interested in the visual complexity of the patterns and systems behind the threats, and the abstract nature of this reality. The dangers, represented through molecular formulae and other elements, very often match the beauty of the natural world, in their own peculiar way. Through the density of the visual information, these images speak to the near-impossibility of teasing out such dangers from the intricate, seductive space presented.

Underlying my work is a microscopic-macroscopic tension—either real or invented. I am interested in providing a spatial flexibility between that which is practically imperceptible with forms that can be seen by the naked eye.

Ultimately, these pieces are born out of a deep empathy for our natural world, and the confusion about how to protect it from complicated forces of harm. They are, simultaneously, lush and celebratory, while acting as subtle cautionary tales.

-Lisa Tubach