Lisbeth Firmin is a contemporary American realist whose paintings and prints explore the relationship between people and their urban environment. Her urban landscapes follow in the tradition of earlier realists such as John Sloan and Edward Hopper, depicting today’s life in the streets, while reflecting modern themes of isolation and disconnection.

Firmin did not pursue an academic art education, but studied independently with printmaker Seong Moy, and painters Philip Malicoat, Victor Candell, and Leo Manso in Provincetown in the early 70’s. Her process involves bold applications of energetic marks and strokes, producing an abstract interplay of shapes that fall into place when viewed from a distance. She is not interested in producing a literal translation of her subject matter, but strives to ride the line between abstraction and realism.

My work blurs the boundaries of painting and sculpture, abstraction and figuration, as well as “high” and “low” art. This aesthetic is borne out of my life’s histories, personal struggles (and triumphs over them), family, and my love of the act of and history of painting. My aim is to create work that expresses a range of human emotion; at once violent, fragile, sensitive, fierce, vulnerable, and compassionate.

Mirrored glass, wood, paint, and found objects are built up and broken down through a persistently regenerative process highlighting the cracks, stains, and tears. These marks become symbols of a fracturing redemption, a complexity with an acceptance of all of what we are, and in the end, what makes us human.