Artwork

For Texas-based artist Lisa Kearsley Cowling, aesthetic and spiritual transcendence are rooted in the natural world, and her oil compositions of feathery wings transformed into ornate and mysterious objects and patterns encapsulate this sense of metamorphosis magnificently. In paintings that can be alternately spartan in their restraint or baroque in their richness, she depicts wreath-like arrangements of wings that alternately evoke the bouquets of classical still lifes, Rorschach ink blots, anthropomorphic forms and abstract swirls of vivid brushstrokes. Throughout these aesthetic fluctuations, she maintains a consistent composition with a central, winged form set off against a muted backdrop.

Whether muted or exhaustively rendered, Lisa Kearsley Cowling's paintings are both chromatically and texturally superb. Her palette permits contrasts both subtle and extreme: certain pieces pop with tropical plumages of turquoise, orange and purple, while others feature a subtler play of pinks and pale yellows against white backdrops. In such works, the fluid textures of her brushstrokes double as key visual cues, conjuring the sculptural softness of feathers in ridges of oil paint.