“Los Angeles: A Different Narrative” is a painting series about the duality of life in Los Angeles. A city of dreams depicted by David Hockney’s iconic swimming pools that he described as “the most beautiful city in the world” (David Hockney), Los Angeles is also known for weather of catastrophe. Santa Ana winds whip up wildfires that are unpredictable and terrifying. The normal sublime turns apocalyptic. These paintings are about the fragility and impermanence of living in Los Angeles, of how close to the edge we really are.

The duality of life in Los Angeles, which ranges from 72 degrees and sunny with a chance of swimming pools to the catastrophic wildfires whipped up by unstoppable Santa Ana winds, is depicted in the painting series “Los Angeles: A Different Narrative”.  The paintings show a collection of private and public views, both beautiful and destructive, that make up the urban landscape crisscrossing Los Angeles. The current wildfires burning out of control in the Amazon, the Arctic and Portugal, combined with the recent spate of horrendous wildfires that blanketed the state of California most of the past year gives urgency to the theme of fire, and its effect on our climate and planet as a whole. The wildfire paintings depict the danger and unpredictability of the Santa Ana winds which are catastrophic and life threatening. The horrifying can yield the sublime, for often the particles in the air during a wildfire yield the most incredible sunsets. The sunsets in Los Angeles when there are no wildfires are usually beautiful as well, both gleaming with color and all the promise LA has to offer. Joan Didion summed up life in Los Angeles “the unpredictability of the Santa Ana winds affect the entire quality of life in Los Angeles, accentuate its impermanence, its unreliability. The wind shows us how close to the edge we are.” These paintings show our fragility and our resilience.

Susan Lizotte was born in Los Angeles, and adopted at two months old. When she was one, she moved with her adopted parents to Bronxville in Westchester County, NY; they moved back to L.A. when she was 14. She earned her B.A. in Theater Arts at UCLA –discovering her love for art and art history through a class at the end of her senior year. While still in college, she worked part time designing men’s custom dress shirts, and went on to start her own business designing bespoke shirts and suits for men, and ran it for fifteen years. After finding and meeting her biological mother – an artist –Lizotte finally decided to pursue her love of art and painting.  She resides in Los Angeles, balancing her studio practice with life with her husband, four children, and family pets including a peacock.