Lisbon, Portugal
The
Lisbon
Studio.
Where the Atlantic light comes through and the work reflects the city and the people in it.
The Studio · Lisbon, 2024–Present
In January 2024 Kerry Pastine moved from Denver to Lisbon. She moved her entire life, for good. It wasn't easy. Immigration is a grind, and Lisbon is the kind of place that is beautiful but if you are working for a living, it gets real very quickly. The transition was a lot to handle, and these paintings are the direct result of that pressure.
The work happens in her Lisbon studio. She doesn't go in with a script; she stands up and paints whatever is actually there that day. Sometimes that means colors as loud as the city. Other times, the work is dark and quiet like her new Alcântara neighborhood at night.
Lisbon changed her colors. Denver has that piercing, high-altitude light that makes everything look graphic. Lisbon’s light is different. It’s softer, shaped by the ocean and the Tagus river. The change of scenery added a layer of depth to an already bold palette. The edge is still in the work, but it feels different when you stand in front of the artwork.
The city also provided the environment she’d been looking for. In Lisbon, the past is a fundamental part of the architecture. You see mid-century buildings right next to old-world facades and tile-covered walls. It makes history itself feel like a physical structure rather than something out of a textbook. This is what it’s like to live inside the Retromodernism she’s been chasing for years.
The studio is open for business. Kerry's studio/gallery is part living space, part working space in Alcântara overlooking the 25 de Abril Bridge, and the work is always in progress. Every painting carries the reality of the move: the summer heat, the grey winters, and the experience of an American who chose to start over in a place that is still teaching her how to see again. Building a life under that bridge serves as a daily check-in for the work, reflecting a transition that is still very much underway.
"The studio is where the noise— Kerry Pastine, Lisbon, 2024
stops and the work starts.
Same thing I said about the stage."
Location
Lisbon,
Portugal
The studio is in the heart of the city in Alcântara. Close enough to the Tagus to watch the light shift in the afternoon, far enough from the tourist zones to think. Lisbon is complicated, and Kerry's work follows suit.
Practice
Intuitive
Process
No sketching. No planning. The work starts when the brush hits the canvas and something true comes out. It's the same instinct as Kerry's singing. She doesn't know where she's going on stage until she gets there, and the getting there is the point.
Influence
The City
as Canvas
Kerry's Lisbon work doesn't rely on azulejo tiles or typical tourist imagery. The focus is on the city's physical structure, the hard lines and geometry you see in the Alcântara studio. It is just the reality of the view from her windows. The massive scale of the bridge and the industrial bones of the waterfront. The work is Kerry's view of what it actually looks like to be in this city every day.