ARTIST STATEMENT

I’m a cityscape oil painter in love with intense color and deep contrast. The fluid light, dramatic vistas, stark landscapes and energized urban neighborhoods of the Los Angeles provide endless inspiration for my work. I paint with a vibrant palette and expressive brushstrokes to share my vision of an essence of the urban experience.

I’m drawn to the tension between nature and the hand-of-man on the city. I ask the viewer to observe situations so common that we experience them unconsciously; to see places and objects in a new light, and to consider that they are rich in meaning and beautiful.

BIO

Earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Lambert was a professional actress for nearly two decades. Her theatrical background lends natural drama and mystery to her work as well as joy and celebration.

She studied art for two years at The Art Center School of Design in Pasadena, California, before she met her mentor, museum-collected artist Margaret Garcia in 2009. Since Lambert’s first exhibit in 2011, she has participated in more than 85 shows and exhibitions, including solo exhibits at the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum (2017, Mesa, AZ), The City of Burbank Creative Arts Center Gallery (2016), ChimMaya Art Gallery (2016, Los Angeles), and the Jean Deleage Art Gallery (2014, Los Angeles). Group exhibitions include, among many others, The Lines Gallery (Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, 2017) and the TAG Gallery (2020, LA Open Exhibition).

ARTICLE WRITTEN ABOUT BONNIE LAMBERT BY STEVE WEINGARTEN FOR THE MAGAZINE “1VOICE.”

“I was an actress for many years and always felt electrified when I performed in front of a live audience,” Bonnie Lambert said. “Now I’m an oil painter, and my years on stage are one of my greatest influences.”

Lambert’s world revolves around gridlocked rush-hour traffic, edgy boulevards turning electric under neon, and power-lines and telephone poles slicing the sky into geometric shapes. She has captured Los Angeles vistas from the Arroyo Secco to Lincoln Park and beyond in a different light. 

“My actors are a vibrant palette and expressive, impasto brushstrokes,” She said. “I hope viewers will be moved to see how beautiful this wonderful world is.”

Lambert studied at the Art Center School of Design. She has attended Margaret Garia’s painting workshop since 2009, and teaches oil painting at Plaza de la Raza.

Her work has been shown at the Southwest and Forest Lawn museums Los Angeles, the Pasadena Museum of History, Latino Museum of Art in Pomona, and Contemporary Arts Museum in Mesa, Arizona.