In Lisa Pressman’s mixed-media artwork What the Surface Remembers, the past does not merely linger—it is inscribed, concealed, and resurrected through the process. Small in scale but rich in gesture and emotional resonance, the piece carries the energy of an artifact unearthed from personal or collective memory. With its stitched seams, smoky discolorations, and glowing pinks, this wall-mounted work invites a slow-looking an opportunity to consider how what we preserve, obscure, or scar becomes part of our narrative.
Artwork Description: Memory Etched in Material
At first glance, What the Surface Remembers appears like a weathered relic—a tactile fragment suspended in time. Upon closer inspection, its complexity unfolds: stitched lines act like sutures across skin, burned areas imply both trauma and purification, and layers of collage evoke history overwritten by lived experience.
Pressman’s use of glowing pink hues contrasts against the charred and aged surfaces, forming a visual conversation between tenderness and destruction. Handmade marks, stains, and textured surfaces give the piece an almost archaeological presence, as if it has survived fire, decay, and repair. The title itself acts as a key, suggesting that memory lives not just in our minds, but also in the material remnants of our lives.
In this artwork, transformation is not a final act but a continuum. Each layer suggests a moment in time—a decision, a gesture, a memory embedded into the fabric of the piece. Pressman asks the viewer to contemplate how what is altered, erased, or mended still leaves a trace.
Process as Meditation: Stitching, Burning, Layering
What makes this work profoundly resonant is not just what is seen, but how it is made. Pressman’s process is intuitive yet intentional. The stitches are not decorative—they are scars of repair, reminders of care, and metaphors for connection. Burning, a seemingly destructive act, becomes a mark-making tool that hints at both loss and revelation. Collage and layering obscure and expose in equal measure, echoing the selective nature of memory itself.
This alchemical approach is central to Pressman’s practice. She treats each medium as a living element: encaustic wax can hold and conceal, oil paint breathes emotion, and cold wax allows for nuanced texture. In What the Surface Remembers, these materials come together to form a hybrid language that speaks of fragility, resilience, and the transformation of pain into presence.
Thematic Depth: Presence, Absence, and Remembrance
The power of What the Surface Remembers lies in its invitation to feel. It evokes emotional states that resist easy categorization: grief, tenderness, endurance. The layered surface suggests that memory is not static or pristine—it is mutable, porous, and often ambiguous.
The piece navigates the space between presence and absence. Some marks are deliberate, while others appear to have been discovered by accident—ghosts beneath the surface. This duality reflects the human experience of memory: how we recall what was, how we long for what’s lost, and how we carry it forward through creative expression.
By abstracting these ideas through material, Pressman transcends the personal and speaks to a universal human desire—to remember, to preserve, and to find beauty in the act of transformation.
Artist Background: A Practice Rooted in Experimentation
Lisa Pressman’s ability to evoke such emotional depth stems from a decades-long commitment to experimentation and process. A New Jersey-based visual artist and educator, she works across media—encaustic, oil, cold wax, and mixed materials—always with an eye toward transformation and emotional honesty.
Her process is hands-on and visceral. Pressman scrapes, stitches, burns, and builds, creating surfaces that reflect the physical and psychological layers of time. This approach has made her a leading voice in contemporary abstraction, with solo and group exhibitions across the U.S. Her work is represented by Addington Gallery in Chicago and Susan Eley Fine Art in New York.
Beyond her studio practice, Pressman is also a passionate educator. She teaches workshops nationally and internationally and is a core instructor for R&F Handmade Paints—one of the most respected names in encaustic painting. Her dedication to sharing knowledge reflects her belief that art-making is both a personal and communal act.
She earned her MFA in Painting from Bard College and her BA in Fine Arts from Douglass College, Rutgers University—academic roots that support her ongoing commitment to pushing the boundaries of material and meaning.
Conclusion: Art as a Living Archive
What the Surface Remembers is more than a visual experience—it is an emotional landscape, a tactile memory, a reflection on time’s passage. It challenges viewers to reconsider how memories are stored: not only in the mind, but in material, gesture, and transformation.
In a world increasingly fixated on clarity and perfection, Lisa Pressman’s work celebrates ambiguity, process, and imperfection. Her surfaces don’t just remember—they breathe. They invite us into a dialogue about healing, history, and the quiet power of art to transform what we think we’ve lost into something newly luminous.
