Lisa Salamandra

Adjunct Faculty

Lisa Salamandra is a visual artist and researcher who has lived and worked in France for the past twenty-five years. She works simultaneously on three mediums: drawing, collage and oils, in serial fashion. Throughout her work, the human body – the figure – is the main element that she manipulates and transforms (transfigures). Her visual research is centered around the manner in which the figure comes into being: its makeup and construction. Within this framework, she frequently expresses herself through the female figure.

Education
Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, Ph.D. in Fine Arts research (2018), Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, MFA in Fine Arts research (2011), Université Paris VIII Vincennes-Saint-Dénis, Licence in Fine Arts (1997), Maryland Institute, College of Art, BFA in General Fine Arts (1989).

Research/Teaching experience
Lisa Salamandra’s thesis focused on a series in which she utilized advertisement photographs taken from local supermarket flyers that depicted raw meat. She used these images to construct female figures by collage. She seeks to explain why the viewer is affected by these images, and to shine light upon the origin of this effect found within our primitive past. In illustrating our profound ties to the animal, she depicts how the myths, rites, and taboos associated with the animal/human body are at work today. This study treats the significance of the female image, spanning from the distant past to contemporary society. This research was funded in part by the Conseil Départemental of the Allier region.

Educational experience includes periods as a visiting artist and lecturer for public and private institutions, exhibition venues, symposiums and events. She also leads workshops for school children in public and private institutions.

Selected Exhibits/Presentations
Fonds d’Art Moderne et Contemporain (Montluçon), Salles Jean-Hélion, Centre Nicolas-Pomel (Issoire), Galerie d’art La Villa Balthazar (Valence), Galerie La Ralentie (Paris), Parlement du Féminin (Opéra-comique, Paris), Palais Brongniart (Paris), Fondation des Etats-Unis (Paris), Salon de l’Agriculture (Paris), Franco-American Institute (Rennes), Couvent des Cordeliers (Paris), Galerie Municipale Julio Gonzalez (Arcueil), The Wall Gallery (Berlin), Combes Gallery (Paris), The Gallery at Chapin (Princeton), U.S. Ambassador’s Residency (Paris), Mona Bismarck Foundation (Paris), The American Library in Paris, Galerie Allaire-Aigret (Paris), Galerie Sacha Tarassoff (Paris), Salon de Montrouge, Salon de Mai (Paris).

Permanent collections
Ernst & Young, Inc. (Neuilly-sur-Seine), Europain Développement, Inc. (Paris), La Maison Poilâne (Paris), La Confédération Française de la Boulangerie (Paris), Fond Shakers, city of Montluçon, Espace Culturel La Pléaide, city of Commentry, Sicaba-Adet (Bourbon-l’Archambault), Private collections.

 Commissions
La Maison Poilâne (Paris), Sicaba-Adet (Bourbon-l’Archambault).

www.lisasalamandra.com