Lisa Sanditz’s paintings combine isolated scenes and brilliant colours, capturing, as she describes it, ‘the ways the marketplace and the wilderness intersect, overlap, and inform each other’. This exploration of the natural landscape also conveys elements of human impact on the planet, providing a juxtaposition of scenes that emanate visual elements set for painterly interpretation.
Hot Dog, 2020, exudes a powerful presence of paint. Alerted by the colour’s initial boldness, the grid-like form of the trees create structure in the composition that directs the viewer’s gaze to the centre of the picture plane. One’s gaze is led down the road in the direction of the moving car, its sweeping downward brushstrokes adding a sense of perspective. Playing with the viewpoint, Sanditz cuts the foreground off at the bottom, distorting the vertical of the road which then becomes overgrown with flowers, tree trunks and pastel tones in the foreground, flattening the space.
Her rich palette juxtaposes colour, between the impactful blue and the more swirling pastel hues there is an added level of depth to the initial shallow picture plane. Sanditz also contrasts between the mechanical and sharp red of the car with the softer, organic shapes painted in pale pinks and blues of the natural landscape. Gently guiding the eye around the remainder of the dreamlike composition, we are encouraged to delve further into the scene.
This blended composition, in conjunction with the physical size of the work, engulfs you into the disorientating reality Sanditz has created, highlighting the conflictive qualities presented in a scene combining both the natural and man-made world
(By Ava Howard)