Landscapes of Loss: Lisa Chandler

"Mostly it is loss which teaches us about the worth of things." - Arthur Schopenhauer

Everyone, from all walks of life and across cultures, experiences loss and grief during their lives, whether it’s private and personal loss, within their community, or at a global level.

Right now, we are bombarded with harrowing stories of loss on a daily basis - from Covid-19 to the dire ‘Code Red’ climate change warnings, to poverty and homelessness. The world can feel like an insecure and frightening place, full of challenges which Lisa Chandler’s new body of work, Landscapes of Loss, examines. In particular, Landscapes of Loss explores the dichotomies of isolation and connection. The artworks tell stories of loss and isolation, but also offer hope - portraying how people come together and support each other during difficult times.

Lisa Chandler (MFA Hons) is a contemporary history painter - she looks closely at our moment in time and explores issues such as gentrification, migration, social injustice and climate change. Following a residency at the Leipzig International Art Programme in Germany in 2016, Chandler secured a permanent studio at the Spinnerei art hub and, prior to Covid, was dividing her time between Nelson and Germany. Her last series, The Dividing Line, was created and exhibited in Leipzig before touring four regional public art galleries in New Zealand between 2018 and 2021. The continuing thread of Chandler’s practice is her love of the act of painting, the substance of paint itself, colour, and mark-making. She constantly strives for a balance between abstraction and figurative. Alongside her large-scale paintings, Chandler also creates works on paper, often including collage and printmaking techniques.