RUIN, 2021, 120 x 260cm, Acrylic on Canvas

LANDSCAPES OF LOSS

Please click here to view the Landscapes of Loss exhibition catalogue.

Created during the Covid lock down years, Landscapes of Loss was first exhibited at Hastings City Art Gallery in 2022 and then at Aratoi Museum of Art and History in the Wairarapa in 2023.

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 this 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.

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

NOWHERE TO TURN, detail, 2022, 250 x 190cm, Acrylic on Canvas

GONE 2021, 91 x 122cm, Acrylic on Canvas

RUINATION, detail, 2022, 70 x 50cm, Acrylic on Canvas

TAKEN II, detail, 2022, 160 x 120cm, Acrylic on Canvas

HAVOC, 2022, photocopies of original works, NZ Government posters and flyers, newspaper cuttings, letters, posters, caution tape, emergency tape, spray paint at Aratoi Museum of Art and History, Wairarapa, 2023

IN MEMORIAM

Hastings Art Gallery, 2022

Collagraph and Cyanotype prints on paper, Collagraph plate, photo frame, tea cup and saucer, sherry glasses, crystal decanter, variety of china ornaments, glass bottle, china vase, china jug, small china plate, cameo brooch, necklace, encaustic wax, oil stick, lace doilies

SELECTED VISITOR COMMENTS

  • “Just been to Hastings to see your show Lisa, a huge powerful body of work, should be seen in every city, well done on such a mammoth undertaking, really felt it.”

  • “Lucky to see it visiting New Zealand in October and loved every piece of your work. Really resonated with all we have endured.”

  • "Such poignancy in your paintings Lisa"

  • “Kia Ora Lisa. Just wanted to say that I saw your show in Hastings yesterday and while I wanted to say I loved it, destroyed is probably closer to how I felt. I wanted to go and ask for a hug from the stranger in the foyer. It feels powerful and very real, to see both sorrow and kindness detailed in paint and print. Thanks for your work.”

  • “Amazing . . . the ideas are so confrontational but they're painted in such a quiet subdued way, it’s a great juxtaposition, just incredible”

  • “I’ve been twice already to take in Lisa Chandler’s amazing and moving work. It confronts the bleakness and tragedy of life yet eclipses all of it with the power of kindness”

  • “I have come and viewed this exhibition 4 times now and have brought different people each time and everyone loves it”

  • “The wall of COVID is just incredible. I have long COVID and I feel like myself and others like me belong on that wall, we are the end of that line”

  • “So powerful and moving, especially seeing it for a second time and reading the stories in the Book of Sorrows, the sense of connection”