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鈥業 strive to make art that would evoke a similar shock to jumping in an ice-cold body of water,鈥� successful CU-Boulder alumna says

As a classically trained, now expressionist, painter, Lisa Solberg (BFA 2005) never imagined she鈥檇 be in an industrial-district studio, recruiting strippers.

It鈥檚 for a Dec. 19, 2015, exhibition鈥攈er largest to date鈥攃alled听Mr. Lee鈥檚 Shangri-La, featuring exotic dancers, a greenhouse of golden walls and her paintings. The show will be held at the progressive Los Angeles MAMA Gallery, with a preview at international premier art fair, Art Basel, in Miami Beach, Florida.

听Her performance installation art, which clearly is not boring, is a natural evolution, Solberg explains. 鈥淎rt is actually life, and I think most people are yearning for a change in perspective, a jolt of inspiration, a fresh breath of air. I strive to make art that would evoke a similar shock to jumping in an ice-cold body of water.鈥�

Originally from Chicago, Solberg鈥檚 life is as eclectic as her work. She鈥檇 rather we not focus on her ski career, but the 5-feet-7-inch, green-eyed blonde skied in the X Games and is photographed often, brush in hand, donning a Michael Jordan jersey for super-hip contemporary art magazines.

As a youngster with raw exuberant talent, Solberg felt compelled to sketch on walls and draw on streets with chalk. Today her massive works utilizing broad, sweeping strokes in vibrant, energetic colors sell in a range of $5,000 to $30,000 in galleries from New York to Singapore.

When asked to take over an L.A. gallery space in 2012, she fearlessly delved into the dark side of dream imagery, sketching skulls and demons juxtaposed with messages of 鈥渆verlasting love鈥� in electric blue ink on floor-to-ceiling silver insulation boards.

The result was an immersive installation called听; one that remains close to her heart and that revealed a raw and honest beauty. This year, when asked to do something artsy with a defunct Sno-Cat庐 atop a Utah ski resort, she went to work with gold paint and bright lights, creating a snow-mountain centerpiece.

Whether she鈥檚 using ink, oils, canvas or a vehicle, her artistic process remains intensely physical and emotionally intuitive, says Solberg, whose home base is an industrial L.A. studio.

鈥淚鈥檓 surrendering to the moment,鈥� she says, 鈥渁s well as studying and learning from the void.鈥�

From the Flatirons to industrial L.A.

Growing up in a family of five kids, art offered an escape, Solberg says.

鈥淚 have always been considered the 鈥榳eird鈥� one of the family (although I might contend that!) 鈥� spending lots of time in the basement of my home drawing. I was happiest alone for a while there. It was kind of dark times self-inflicted from deep down鈥攚ho knows why鈥攁nd art was always my emotional outlet.鈥� On the flip side, Solberg was playing on numerous varsity athletic teams and attributes her continued work ethic and mindset to her athletic upbringing.

Illinois鈥� Barrington High School held a large art department with four advanced-placement classes, nine instructors and 900 visual art students. Solberg found a mentor in teacher Blake Mueller. 鈥淗e opened up so many paths for us as young artists and taught us that there are no boundaries.鈥�

Mueller, who is retired, has fond memories of Solberg. 鈥淚 remember Lisa vividly as a gifted student who had determination with independent thought. She also had innate ability, perseverance and a grasp of factual and conceptual ideas that allowed her to perform at a competence level far beyond others at her age. I am proud of Lisa鈥檚 accomplishments, her passion for the visual arts is commendable and the size and scope of her art is fascinating.鈥�

Although recruited by national art schools, Solberg was sold on CU.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 interesting is my family actually went to Boulder when I was 10, and I remember saying, 鈥業鈥檓 going to go to school here.鈥� I was getting ready to apply to Dartmouth where my dad and my grandfather went, but I applied (to CU) 鈥� because I didn鈥檛 have to write an essay. I was happy with my decision, though, very happy.鈥�

CU鈥檚 psychology and astronomy classes filtered into her artistic conceptions, as did life beneath the Flatirons.

鈥淚鈥檇 run a lot up into the Canyon toward Nederland, or up to the Flatirons. A lot of my inspiration came from there. I also had two great notable teachers, Sally Elliott and Jerry Kunkel,鈥� she recalls.

鈥淐U was my spring board; it propelled me to polish certain areas of study and interests in my work. That鈥檚 kind of how I see my time there, a time when you start to find out who you are through your studies and your work. I鈥檓 continually advising students to do things they are scared of. To believe in themselves, before anything else.鈥�

鈥淏eing in downtown L.A. has been great for my career as a whole (I鈥檝e been here seven years) but at the same time, I鈥檓 really yearning to get back out into nature.鈥�

Coco Bunny

One advantage of a downtown L.A. studio is the opportunity for installation art. This fall, Solberg was selected by The Standard Hotel to feature several large images in a row of her black-and-white sketch of a cartoony Coco Bunny on its 40-by-8 foot wall along 6th听Street.

Coco Bunny is her avatar, Solberg says, defined as an 鈥渆xistential rabbit and psychic guide to the light.鈥�

With one paw waving in the air, much like the Chinese fortune cat Maneki Neko, Coco Bunny was created as an 鈥渋mage to provoke curiosity on her business cards, it was just the bunny one side and my name on the other,鈥� she says.

Wherever she goes, Solberg tends to leave behind a smaller cut-out version of the bunny鈥攁s seen in photographs (or photo bombs) on people, phones, cars, buildings and sidewalks.

鈥淚t鈥檚 cute, funny, hardcore, rebellious, flirty, experimental and intelligent. CB has a zest for life, and is stuck all over the world to make people happy. Its motto is, 鈥溾�橧 like you.鈥欌��

When she鈥檚 not Coco Bunny, Solberg prefers that people react to her art from a gut level, because that is how she approaches it.

鈥淚 would advise not trying too hard. With my art, I鈥檓 trying to evoke raw emotion most of the time. For me it鈥檚 a personal process but its exposure becomes entirely public, and that鈥檚 what I want it to be. Any given piece of my work can mean something entirely different to the person right next to you, and this is what I enjoy most.鈥�

滨苍听, it鈥檚 quite the opposite process, having a conceptual project 鈥済host gallery鈥� that requires the viewer to take a moment and contemplate, to look at their reflection, to look into themselves.

鈥淏y definition, 24HR PSYCHIC inherits the ability to hold events in any physical or non-physical place (hence, 鈥榞host鈥� gallery), this crucial aspect grants me the freedom to basically do whatever I want with it鈥攍etting it evolve as necessary.鈥�

Her authenticity is what inspired David Wallin, an Australian art student whom she met studying abroad in 2002, at the University of Wollongong, south of Sydney.

鈥淚鈥檇 freshly migrated from mechanical engineering, so I was still finding my depth in the creative world,鈥� Wallin recounts. 鈥淏eing quite an analytical person, Lisa helped me loosen up my creative brain, live in the moment and not be afraid to get things out on paper, rather than trying to perfect things in my head.鈥�

One of the most vivid things he recalls is her dedication to documenting her process and collecting her ideas, thoughts, sketches and experiences in 10 large art journals.

鈥淚 was blown away by the level of detail and the diligence with which she recorded her everyday life, and how much this fed back into her creative output,鈥� he says.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been great seeing Lisa鈥檚 creative development, there鈥檚 a real rawness and quickness in her work, but it鈥檚 underpinned by a much deeper level of thought. It鈥檚 like she stores away so many little memories, impressions and experiences of the world and then they all come tumbling out in that vibrant, moody, expressive way until she鈥檚 done. For that moment.鈥�

鈥淔or me, Lisa contributes a s鈥�- load of fearlessness to the world. She鈥檚 an adventurer, an experience collector, an inspiration to follow what you鈥檙e passionate about. She鈥檚 honest. She鈥檚 right there in her experiences, and documents her feelings and passions in one beautiful hot mess of color and line.鈥�

Solberg boils it down to the fact she鈥檚 not necessarily trying to make people happy鈥攕ince 鈥渢hat鈥檚 what Coco Bunny is for,鈥� she says.

鈥淏ut instead I鈥檓 trying to invigorate people鈥檚 sense of life. If everyone was just happy, that would be insanely boring, wouldn鈥檛 it?鈥�

Julie Marshall (MA Jour鈥�95)听is the听author of听Making Burros Fly: Cleveland Amory, Animal Rescue Pioneer, and a听former features writer/associate editor for the Daily Camera. She lives in Lafayette. For more about Lisa Solberg, click听.听

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