About Jeffrey Lazarus
Jeffrey Lazarus is an oil painter working in Stuart, Florida and East Hampton, New York. He paints from his own photographs, with the aim of conveying the feeling of being present in a place — the same feeling he had when he took the picture.
Born in Brooklyn and raised on Long Island, he traveled and lived in Europe from his mid-teenage years through his later twenties, including six years in Italy, where he continued to practice photography. His first camera was a pre-World War II Exakta Varex, a fully manual SLR he came upon in a closet at home. He learned by trial and error, developing and printing his own work, and photographed portraits, New York street scenes, and anything else that caught his eye.
He began painting in 2021, to turn those landscape and other photographs into oils. He studies with Kate Wood, a lifelong painter and art restorer. He finds oils forgiving, and the work lets him focus intensely on the moment. What excites him is making art that resonates with people and brings them the emotions he felt — and showing others what he loves about the world.
His painting The Gallberries, a late afternoon view of Florida pines and untouched back country, will be exhibited at the Elliott Museum in Stuart, Florida, beginning December 2.