Jeffrey’s paintings celebrate the dynamic expressiveness of color through cohesive ordered abstraction. The lines and shapes dividing the flat space function as structures for color interaction while conveying their own ideas expressing energy and emotional positivity. His paintings display an elegant finished look enticing the viewer to get closer. Jeffrey loves to talk about his work but encourages people to find their own meaning in it, to contemplate at will. There is no wrong interpretation.

Jeffrey LiaBraaten lives and paints in Chicago. He grew up in northern Minnesota then relocated to the Washington D.C. area for 35 years before moving to the Windy City. He holds bachelor’s degrees in piano performance (Concordia College, Moorhead, MN) and interior design (U. of Maryland, College Park). He lives with his husband of 34 years and their beagles.

“Becoming a visual artist seems a natural progression in my life” he says. “My initial creative outlet was musical. That evolved into work in the practical arts which morphed into painting. In design school I had an awesome art teacher named Foon Sham. The ideas he planted in my brain never left me and have blossomed into an adventure in art.”