LIVING IN COLOR: THE PRISMATIC PERFECTION OF ARTIST JANE GOTTLIEB -- You can blame it on the Yucatan....gladly! For Santa Barbara, California artist Jane Gottlieb, a visit to the exotic Yucatan peninsula in eastern Mexico many years ago provided a colorful life-changing experience that would take her art in a direction from which she would never veer thereafter. "I was color-liberated during that trip!," says Gottlieb to Studio of Style. "Up to that Yucatan visit, I had always been in love with color, especially the palette used by the Fauvism artists of the early twentieth century. But when I saw the intense purples and magenta and other colors of the houses in Mexico, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my art and my life." In the years leading up to the Yucatan experience, Gottlieb had many years of art training and skills tucked neatly under her belt: she studied in Florence, Italy and went on to obtain her degree in painting and art history at UCLA where the faculty at the time included such art world notables as Richard Diebenkorn and William Brice. Later in New York City, she worked in the world of commercial photography alongside photo legends Francesco Scavullo and Sid Avery. Gottlieb's list of accomplishments continue to include a stint as art director at Warner Brothers -- and all along this journey she relentlessly honed her painting style which would lead to numerous solo and group exhibits worldwide. "When I returned from the Yucatan," Gottlieb tells Studio of Style, "the first thing I did was to paint my little house, then in West Los Angeles, bright purple, magenta, pink and turquoise -- inside and out. I was bold and undaunted regardless of what people thought. And over the years after painting four homes in this style, I've truly learned a lot about color, about living with color, about how a complete wall or a just a detail of color applied to an interior space can truly impact your life, attitude and spirit." And to further all of this, Gottlieb bought an Amazon parrot in vibrant yellow, chartreuse, blue and red -- and he loved being on her shoulder in her studio for many years which also inspired her to continue adding more and brighter colors to her palette. Her current home in Santa Barbara (shown above) is a 5,000-square-foot wonderland of color both inside and out. "I see them as three-dimensional art pieces," she says of her collection of homes over the years. "And I've always changed colors here and there to make them continually interesting." On Wednesday May 15, the works of Gottlieb are celebrated at the UCLA Anderson School of Management with a special reception in her honor. This exhibit entitled "Dreamscapes" features pieces from the artist's Monuments series, Joy Rides series and Lawnbowlers series -- all in vibrant colors, of course! "This exhibit will be up for ten years," says Gottlieb, "which means that I'll be able to touch and inspire visitors for a long, long time." So, yes, do blame it on Yucatan....and the Fauvists....and the Amazon parrot....and that sits just fine with Gottlieb whose pursuit of prismatic perfection is a joyous journey.
http://www.janegottlieb.com/Images courtesy the artist
