he idea of meditation and contemplation play a major role in the paintings of California based artist Craig Carlisle. Infused with serene happiness and melancholy, his paintings evoke emotions within us reminiscent of childhood innocence. “I like watching how people react to the colors, or to the painting’s content,” says Carlisle. Some paintings of figures are cropped from the waist up and larger than life, while other paintings are small scale and intimate, yet all elicit an immediacy of reaction which is both mesmerizing and unexplainable. “Some people become alive and overjoyed while others need to be left alone to experience the energy,” says the artist.

Carlisle creates a “still-moment” in his narrative art by juxtaposing recognizable elements while at the same time using minimal, sometimes flat color, for the background. A complexity is built around the emotional and psychological context of the work. The figures he paints are inanimate, sometimes single heads or double heads sprouting from the same set of shoulders. The artist explains,“my work is about communication, about communicating something optimistic, almost healing.” His figures are anonymous, and at times nude, genderless, almost child-like. The artist relies on the traditions of folk art, Surrealism and the naivete of his “soulful” innocent figures in this series. These mysterious individuals live in their own worlds with their own thoughts, they convey to us only what we, as viewers, want them to convey -- a sometimes sad interpretation of our society. Yet Carlisle is optimistic, “I paint to see people’s reactions, each work has a different relationship with the viewer.”

Craig Carlisle was born in Oklahoma and moved to Ohio where he studied at the Columbus College of Art and Design, where he received his BFA in 1988. He has lived and worked in New York City -- currently Carlisle resides in Los Angeles. The artist has exhibited throughout the United States, and is included in numerous private and public collections. This is his second solo exhibition at the George Billis Gallery.