Gisela A. Lazarte

Gisela A. Lazarte (b. 1989) is an abstract artist based in New York City. Her work is driven by exploration, shaped by a mixture of memories, feelings, and sensory stimuli in a process akin to a meditation-in-action, where intention and intuition converge. Born in Caracas, Venezuela to Peruvian immigrant parents, she developed her painting practice largely through self-taught experimentation. While she undertook oil painting foundational classes at a young age, her artistic inclinations first led her into the world of film and audiovisual communication. After obtaining a B.A. in audiovisual arts and working in video production for several years, she focused on film writing and directing in Barcelona, Spain, where she obtained an M.A. in film directing, and later in NYC. Here, after years of feeling drawn back to her painting practice, she began to fully focus on her career in the arts, finding in abstraction her ultimate means of expression. Nonetheless, her experiences in the film and audiovisual industries continue to inform her work, as her paintings place special emphasis on expressing movement and atmospheric emotion through layers of color, organic shapes, and rhythmic marks. Gisela believes abstraction offers a rare freedom, both in expression and interpretation, that transcends language and cultural barriers. In an active experience for both artist and viewer, her paintings strive to bridge our shared humanity. They invite a dialogue that moves beyond language, where viewers may discover something of their own inner world, much as she discovers and releases something of herself in the act of painting. Her work has been exhibited across the United States and her paintings can be found in private collections nationwide and around the world—including the UK, Canada, Germany, Mexico, Austria, Chile, Peru, and Spain, among others.

Throughout the process of this collection, I found myself thinking about the meaning of unconditionality and its intricacies. While pondering questions through an exploration of color, composition, and gesture on the raw canvas, the works seemed to take on a distinct direction. Each piece in this series strives to capture a delicate interplay between lightness and earthiness, airiness and rootedness. They attempt to embody the feelings of comfort and openness fostered by the experience of unconditionality in our connections with others and within ourselves. Ultimately, my hope is that these works may serve as reminders of the boundless possibilities and ripple effect of unconditional love and acceptance, that inspired this body of work. May they invite us to embrace the unique harmony of liveliness, expansiveness, and serenity that such trust and security can nurture. Qualities as eternal, universal, and unconditional as the Sun's enduring glow.