By Tammy Reese
Hello readers! Embark on a captivating journey through the vibrant strokes and unique narratives of Lisa Gindi, an artist whose creativity knows no bounds. From childhood inspirations to defining moments in her career, Lisa shares her passion for art that transcends canvases and spills into the fabric of life itself. In a world painted with memories and adorned with emotions, Lisa’s artistic evolution unfolds. Join us as we delve into the colors of her life, exploring the influences that shaped her artistic soul and the meaningful creations that resonate with heartfelt stories.
What inspired you to become an artist and what do you enjoy most about the work that you do?
I was inspired to become an artist because my dad, Raymond Gindi, used to draw pictures on a sketchpad many nights a week instead of just reading to me at bedtime. I remember him drawing Noah’s arc and all the animals, too. Then, after my parents divorced and my mom, Elaine Gindi raised me, she did a lot of fashion sewing from patterns and draperies in our home, so I loved creating things for my dolls with her ….unfortunately, as time went on, at age 14, I fell ill ( mid 80') and home in bed for three weeks, was unable to eat food, my tonsils were inflamed and I could only eat ice cream and sleep. So, my aunt, (who is my mom’s twin sister), came over and painted with me in the kitchen. I painted on a two piece purple sweat suit that was a bunch of balloons on top and bottom to match. But, I was already an art major in Mark Twain For the Gifted and Talented Junior High School and an art major at Edward R. Murrow High School (both located in Brooklyn), however it was then I began showing an interest in painting on clothes.
Queens who was a fireman in Brooklyn. That painting was the only painting I made in the 90’s on canvas… as I was painting on clothes for sale…..it was years later that I did a painted collection on canvas, called the Gindi Glitz collection. It’s a movement of “Glitz-ism…a taste of the goodlife”
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Who are some of your biggest inspirations in the art world and why?
Some of the biggest inspirations in the art world for me are Erte’ who made gorgeous fashion figures and Jeff Koons who is a genius businessman and a very unique, modern artist.
I adore Frida Khalo as well….She is my painter/artist heroine since she turned a let down into a touch down due to her accident that left her bed ridden and began to paint. She was beautiful and had a unique fashion sense with putting many roses across her braided hair. I love how fearless she was and how she helped people in trouble, as well. Frida lived her life with passion in everything she did as do I, politically, culturally, romantically, and professionally. Her art was very intense, especially the skeleton paintings and her portraits had a personal style that made you see deep into the person.
What would you say have been some of the most memorable moments in your career so far?
Some of the most memorable moments in my career were drawing fashion designs to decorate the showcases at this wonderful creative High School I had gone to, accepting The Saint Gaudens Medal of Fine Draftsmanship at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, nervously watching two customers fight over a shirt I had painted for sale at a beach sale overlooking the Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn ocean, waking up to see about two dozen tie dyed shirts hanging like a makeshift clothesline I tied across my and my sister’s blue bedroom we shared as teenagers in our rented two family apartment in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn which was on a rainy day when the shirts couldn’t dry outside, going into a bathroom to take off a shirt and replace with another I wore on a very hot day that I may have sweated in a bit because a customer loved it so much and wanted only that one ….(was at a street market I did with my mom on Avenue M in Midwood).
Also, meeting Gregg P. Sullivan who called me “famous” and that I was a “celebrity”and asking me how hard it must be to let my art paintings go since they are “like children”….while doing many, many, interviews (on his Bayside Live TV and Montauk Live TV stations) of me as Gregg asked about my art, as well as the time I was driving home and pulled over in my two door green Toyota Rav 4 on the Belt Parkway to email the newspaper company who was on deadline for publication as they wanted a digital of my NYC skyline asap (the one with fashions collaged in the buildings and a taxi boat in the water, below) so they could print it with the details that it was in a show along with my fashion Glitz collection at in the Sephardic Community Center on the Brooklyn Eagle Art section’s front page.
Another time years later, seeing the gorgeous job Rashid Jalili of Abbot art did framing my painting in about 2020 of my deceased and beloved white fur Maltese dog, Gucci, and he did it as a gift for me (what a generous gesture), and lastly, when Victor Gindi (my third cousin) came to my art studio for a professional photo shoot of my latest African fashion paintings and played with my puppy, Chanel, even though he had tons of work to do.
Please tell us about some of your most meaningful creations.
My most meaningful creations were the Bob Marley works I did because he was half Syrian like me and I felt a connection to him..and the painting of fashion models who are alone since I have been single for 12 years, now, in as much as, the painting, “Summer Love, which reminds me of my first boyfriend, David Traunstein. He took me to a wedding in California years later after we were no longer dating….just friends. The painting makes me think of two people running off from the pressure of marriage to be alone. Since it was a wedding in the Northwoods at a Castle style hotel, outdoors, I made the man and the woman who were holding hands have flowers around them along with them wearing quite fancy outfits. Today, my dad tells me I should rename it, “White Lace and Promises” but I met David when I was 13 and we never made any promises to one another.
What are you currently working on?
I am currently working on portraits of my favorite musicians but trying to do them on smaller canvases and with the modern cuts and layering I do that does not include my usual jewels and magazine collage. I was inspired to do this because my dad is a vocalist and got me into being a music lover as young as five years old. And, my mom had a boyfriend from Indiana who designed record album covers.
What are you most excited about this year? Any art shows coming up that we can be on the lookout for?
So far, I am very excited to show my very large Princess Diana and Harry and Meghan paintings at the 23rd Annual Bayside Historical Society Show of 2024 which will run for one whole month at The Bayside Terrace Shopping Mall on Bell Boulevard. The details can be found on my website which is lisagindi.com and LisaRobinGindi-International on Facebook, as well as paintings4sale_Lisa _Gindi on Instagram. I waited three years to show these special works due to the stress I was under being afraid to go to public gatherings and working/painting most of the time alone during the pandemic.
What do you want your legacy to look like in the art community?
To my community I want my legacy to look like that of a person who faced a lot of adversity due to not always fitting in where I had lived. I have moved many times in my life as well as so many other hardships being a woman,but never gave up on working on my personal growth as well as never abandoning my gift of being able to paint.
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TAMMY REESE
Tammy Reese began her career as a theater actress performing in 60 live stage shows a year with The Media Unit TV and Stage Production Company. She also directed the weekly live TV show Rough Times Live.
Eventually, she went to Empire State College to obtain her degree in media studies. After graduation, she did more theater and wrote and produced her own videos to spread awareness on social issues through the arts.
Tammy is an award-winning journalist and is best known for her legendary interviews with Sharon Stone, Angela Bassett, Jasmine Guy, Sigourney Weaver, Phylicia Rashad, Billy Porter, Steven Yeun, Luke Evans, Geena Davis, Morris Chestnut, Nelly, Ginuwine, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Leon, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Giancarlo Esposito, Jennifer Connelly, Laurence Fishburne, Vivica A. Fox, Omar Epps, Joseph Sikora, Ryan Coogler, Carmen Electra, Essie Davis, Donell Jones, Courtney A. Kemp, Theo Rossi, Skeet Ulrich and many more.
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