Featured Artist
Jane Gottlieb

As much painter as photographer, Jane Gottlieb has used her explosive colorist skills for the past thirty-five years to hand-paint layers of retouching dyes onto her Cibachrome prints, altering reality into a more romantic and fantastic world. Gottlieb now scans her one-of-a-kind hand-painted prints and her lifetime collection of Kodachrome slides and then enhances, collages, and paints them with Photoshop to express her idyllic vision in a voice that is uniquely her own. “I hope” says Gottlieb, “to create images that surprise and intrigue, drawing the viewer into my idyllic vision, ultimately uplifting them with vibrant color and evocative beauty.” Over her career, Gottlieb has journeyed to destinations throughout the world taking photographs of the natural and man-made world creating the basis for her art works. Her multiple series range from classic automobiles to architecture to gardens, cityscapes, monuments, and villas. In conjunction with an exhibition of Gottlieb’s “the Garden Works” at The Butler Institute of America Art, Director Dr. Louis A. Zona stated: “Channeled through a remarkable imagination and disciplined eye, she delivers to us a visual universe of unparalleled wonders. These are classically beautiful works in theme and composition, but move well beyond tradition in interpretation and critical placement of exuberant color.” Gottlieb has been exhibited worldwide in countless group exhibits and many one-person shows including the: Butler Institute of American Art, Laguna Art Museum, Petersen Automotive Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, Monterey Museum of Art, Carnegie Art Museum in Oxnard, CA, Laband Art Gallery at Loyola Marymount University, Louis Stern Gallery in West Hollywood, Nancy Hoffman Gallery in New York, L’Image Gallery in Rome, Italy, the MAD Gallery in Milan, Italy, and Colorinda Gallery in Lisbon, Portugal. Among the many collections in which her art is represented are the: Orange County Museum of Art, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Monterey Museum of Art, Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Cedar’s and UCLA Hospitals, EMI/Capital Records in LA, NYC, London and Paris, and Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C.

Luca Curci – What is art for you?
Jane Gottlieb – What is art for me? It’s been the main focus of my life since I was a little girl. It’s my soul!

LC – What’s your background?
JG – Interested in painting at a young age… went to UCLA progressive elementary school… they set up my own easel in the art room & I could leave class & go paint anytime I wanted. Then they put my art up on the walls of the school… that was it! I wanted to be special & I was unique an artist. I went to UCLA Art extension all thru junior high & high school…every semester, every summer! Then I went to UC Berkeley, Junior year inFlorence, & graduated from UCLA in 1968. Went directly after college to NYC to become an art director in advertising. Worked for 14 years in advertising, movies, books, magazines, fashion, etc as an art director, designer & photographer… always creating my art on the side! Finally got my first big show at the Laguna Art Museum in 1988 & have been a full time working artist ever since. Lots of my dreams have come true…

LC – What is the experience that has influenced your work the most?
JG – Getting to know a few fabulous artist/photographers were influences.
Experience has influenced my work… I am now 74 so I have had a lot of experience! If people don’t respond it’s OK. I love my artwork & that’s what’s most important to me!

LC – Which subject are you working on?
JG – A Disney Hall in technicolor series… lots of misc art….

LC – Where do you find your inspiration?
JG – I have over 50 years of 35mm Kodachrome slides all well organized…coving my lifetime of traveling the world & taking pictures all the time. I just go into my files & start looking at how I saw & shot for example in London in 1985, Israel in 1986, Corsica in 1989, Greece in 1992, Bali in 1993, Paris in 1994, etc… I travelled a lot! I find inspiration looking at my lifetime collection of pics … I scan them & start playing with painting, collaging, editing & enhancing them with Photoshop… so much fun for me!!! Not everything works of course.

LC – What is the most challenging part about creating your artworks?
JG – Capturing the vivd colors in the output. I have been printing dye sublimation prints on aluminum for almost 7 years, & I need to do a lot of color correcting & test prints to get what I want.

LC – Which is the role the artist plays in the society? And the contemporary art?
JG – I want my art to help people enjoy life, feel joy, feel thoughtful, feel happy. My saturated colors help & so do my subjects.

more. www.janegottlieb.com