The beauty of a renaissance woman is the foundational essence of artists like Lisa Whittington. With eyes that consume the world with an unquenchable thirst  it is no surprise that Whittington’s work continually pays homage to artists, musicians, and writers from many walks of life. It is through the bright expressive works of Frida Kahlo, Jean Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Jacob Lawrence, Pablo Picasso, Romare Bearden and Vincent Van Gogh that Lisa Whittington’s strongest influences find residence. However, It was first Van Gogh’s Starry Night that really captured her young heart and ignited within her the need to paint. His work swallowed her and it was beneath those rhythmic moving skies and twinkling stars of Van Gogh's world that a young black artist was encouraged to step foot into and create worlds upon a canvas. In a TEDTalk she said "nobody had ever given [the wind] color until Vincent Van Gogh did that for me." There is no question that when looking at both their works you see them command color in a way that turns pain, struggle and hardship into brilliant incandescent beauty and an expression of the vitality of life. 

 “My work is often ignored even in its truths. However, when it is, it is acknowledged and considered it is highlighted and cherished."

The history of the early African-American is found in the story of thousands of Africans who were captured, shipped like cargo to the New World and sold into slavery. Lisa Whittington has a number of works that respond to this tragedy such as “Another Country” and “This Morning, This Evening, So Soon”. But no story is so simple. Some of her works explore modes of interpersonal interaction in the 2D. They offer interactive conceptual spaces where the viewer proposes a question to the artwork pertaining to the struggles of Black people in America and the conversation and buzzing begins as each Black icon depicted has an answer in his/her own personality.She explores the importance of remembrance and documentation, cultural celebration and  beauty of life. Across the board Lisa Whittington’s body of work is captivating, thought provoking and visually stunning.