STEEL

VITREOUS ENAMEL ON STEEL

Lisa Traxler’s art is that of emotional and physical points of reference.

Her current work challenges the concept of self within a space, dissecting the idea through rich colour punctuated by geometric forms, portals into this mind mapping through paint and the sculptural form.

Her vibrant abstract paintings of acrylic and graphite on canvas paved the way for most recent works of vitreous enamel on steel.
There is a tension between the nature of the materials used and their transformation into sculpture – paintings in space.

 ‘Her most recent body of work consists of large-scale steel and vitreous enamel sculptures. These begin as delicate paper maquettes that are constructions of small clusters of individual sheets that are deftly cut and torn, coloured with paint and delineated with graphite. There is a lightness and poise to these objects that suggest they capture a fleeting, transitory moment of vision. The revelatory nature of her compositions in space embodies Traxler’s journey from the canvas to the factory and echoes the journey that she has embarked upon in her own life. She lives in an environment where anything seen in her surroundings can trigger an imagistic, compositional or painterly response.

 For Traxler, a picture is the experienced, felt and intuited world – a connection with her own immediate surroundings and way of life.’

 © Jonathan Parsons (Full essay 'Space, Lived: The Art of Lisa Traxler' by Jonathan Parsons in the book ‘Lives of Spaces’ a publication about the artist and her work. Available from February 2012).

 Of her enamel sculptures the art critic, Peter Davies writes:

‘The private paper doodlings are transformed through industrial process to become concrete objects that inhabit real space where they form intimate relationships with the immediate environment. Though a commonplace feature of the urban environment since the Victorians first used them as transport signs (London Underground), the vitreous enamel panels are rare in fine art. Traxler replaces the lettering and visual symbols with informal, stream-of-consciousness gestures whose arbitrary shapes, colourings and textures originate in abstract compositions on paper which are subsequently cut or torn, Terry Frost-style, to create a new synthetic entity.'

 © Peter Davies (Full essay, 'Lisa Traxler - An Artist in Context' by Peter Davies in the book ‘Lives of Spaces’ a publication about the artist and her work).

Materials:  Vitreous enamel n. A glass coating fired on metal.

‘A vitreous enamel surface finish is achieved by fusing glass particles to sheet metal or cast iron by firing it at a temperature in excess of 800°C. This results in a surface that is incredibly hardwearing to all the elements. It is temperature resistant (up to 800°C) and chemical resistant with exceptional colour stability. The finished enamelled product is easy to maintain, has exceptional durability, does not fade, is vandal and scratch resistant, clean and hygienic, has outstanding longevity, low maintenance and UV light resistant.’

Above paragraph from A.J. Wells, vitreous enamellers, fabricators of enamel art shown here. (www.ajwells.com)