DEATH BY NIGHTSHADE

The most natural and beautiful things can kill you. 

For centuries, those in the know have used plants to poison their enemies. 

Beyond poison, the plants in the Solanaceae family, commonly known as nightshades, have been harvested for their agricultural and medicinal powers, as well as for witchcraft and spiritual rituals. 

In this collection of paintings, I’ve focused on the blooms of these nightshades. Their innocuous beauty belies their toxicity. While creating each painting, I thought of how it was used historically and how I could possibly harness the powers of these plants in modern times. 

In the end, the plants look harmless. Any of these flowers would be proud to live in a vase on your kitchen table - perhaps as a handy ingredient to have ready for guests who overstay their welcome.  

—Lisa Chan

All paintings are acrylic on wood panel and showing from October 27 - November 2, 2020 at Soup Gallery. This series was commissioned and curated by Michelle Marie Esteva of Chinatown Soup.

Lisa Chan is a self-taught American artist who primarily paints still lifes. She was born in South Carolina and traveled extensively, working as a pastry chef in kitchens across the USA, France, Hong Kong, and Australia. Her inspiration comes from wanting to understand identity and meaning in the human experience through food. For her, even the most naked pastry is interestingly plain and worthy of recognition. Lisa currently lives and bakes in NYC. She and her husband run Cha Bay: a tea, sweets, and ceramics company.