James Auer
The Milwaukee Journal, Entertainment Section
Sunday, September 5, 1982

Shapely “Exotic” show

Lisa Englander is a fan of fans.

That is to say, she is an observant and skillful exploiter of fan-shaped forms.

Her solo show, “Exotic Thoughts” continues through September 16 at Bradley Galleries, 2565 North Downer Ave. It is yet another manifestation of a useful passion that has become mature obsession-and the key to a distinctive personal style as well.

For Englander, who received her master’s degree in printmaking from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, in 1979, the functional hand fan is not simply an object. It is also an endless fertile source of usable symbolic shapes.

Her current exhibit, said to be the result of 2 1/2 years of effort, is the first in which she has displayed her larger paintings, in watercolor on paper, and three dimensional paper constructions as well.

Viewers familiar with Englander’s earlier output are likely to be surprised, this time around, by the stylistics cleavage between small collaged works and larger watercolors.

The tiny, generously matted wall pieces are strongly built, and compact. Their tightly unified compositions are susceptible, one suspects, to greater magnification then they have been subject to here.

The larger paintings, at once flamboyant and minimal, aren’t more profligate with space.

Areas of pristine, white are crisscrossed by decorative bands the artist calls “Fan Strips.” They are truly variations on a theme, almost fugal, in the rhythmic repetition of basic visual ideas.

The Milwaukee-based artist appears to relish the license, larger frames give her, and to delight in lavishing her energies on looser and livelier structures.

In a very real sense she is, in these pieces, exploiting the potential of the field, rather than compressing her statement into the smallest possible area.

What we have here are two spirits within the same creative body – a jeweler and a flagmaker. One cuts gems and mounts them, the other sends banners flying.

For my part, however, much I respect the flag. I prefer the gems. They’re more space efficient – and more energy efficient as well.