Lisa (a.k.a. Lulu) Goldberg

Age: 43

Hometown: I currently live in Tampa FL, however, I don’t consider this home - just a layover. I have lived or traveled all over the world - Russia, Japan, Korea, Spain, Denmark, Germany, and France. Favorite Places… NYC, LA, and France.

Get Real with us.

I have led a really interesting life and there is not a thing I would do differently if I had the chance to go back and do it again.

Artist. I’m a nationally recognized artist and have been painting for about 18 years. I am mostly self-taught, however I did study at the Students Art League of New York. During my college years in the summer I worked for a contemporary Blue Chip Art Wholesaler that specialized in Contemporary Artists such as Keith Haring, Jim Dine, Andy Warhol, and Robert Rauschenberg. This was my intro into the world of art. Eventually I studied overseas in Pau, France. On one of our outings we went to Albi France where I went to the Henri Toulouse-Lautrec Museum. Toulouse is most famous for his work with the Moulin Rouge Posters, but I fell in love with the work he did with women. My favorite subject matter is Yvette Gilbert. She was a famous dancer at the Moulin Rouge and she fascinated Toulouse. Toulouse was my first inspiration and the first art I ever bought was a Toulouse of Yvette Gilbert.

In my early years I painted under the name of Maxime Lamour, translating into “Greatest Love.” My most popular piece during that period was a 4-foot tall by 8-foot wide painting called “The First Supper.” The women are all posed in the same positions as the Last Supper, however they are dressed and characterized from my influences of Lautrec, Daumier, and Soutine.

During the creation of this piece I became very ill, and almost died. I did a self-portrait, which reflects the oncoming of my illness. And I believe the first supper was the last piece I did under the name of Maxime Lamour. That was in 1997.

After a long battle, and now fully recovered, I changed my name to Lulu - a nickname that I had while living in France. I also drastically changed my style to Contemporary Mixed Media. This is still the style that I use today. All of my paintings - whether they are figurative or abstract - are portraits of either myself or people in my life. You can check out myspace.com/lulugoldberg and see work of both Maxime and Lulu.

Schools. I’ve always loved the arts. I was actually accepted to Yale University. After my first semester there I decided I wanted to be an actress. My family at this time earned a good living and their response was: “We are not spending $40,000 a year for acting classes. Get a degree and you can do that later.” Because my family made money, I was ineligible for student loans and my family pulled me from Yale and sent me to the University of Iowa - where my younger brother was studying and could keep an eye on me. I did enjoy my time there, however it was short lived. I convinced my family to let me study abroad, where I spent a year living in the south of France in a town called Pau. This period contains some of my happiest memories. My major was International Business and I wanted to be involved in the EEC - The European Economic Community. However, after returning to the states that gradually faded away. I then decided to study in Japan at Waseda University in Tokyo. I had a friend who had family that lived in Osaka, so off I went. My friend’s mother was the first woman to hold the position as President of the Republican party of Osaka.

Theater. My last years of studies were at the University of Illinois at Chicago. I switched my major without telling my family to a double major of Theater and Communications with a French Languages Studies Certificate. Since I had so many years of business classes, I met all the requirements of a Communications Major and I focused my last year on just Theater. I was in heaven. I will never forget my first audition. The play was called Mirandalina and the director, Valeryi Beliakovich, was from Moscow and his English was minimal. We were required to recite a poem and sing a song. People were quoting Shakespeare and singing songs from Phantom of the Opera. Now it’s my turn. First of all I am tone deaf and cannot hold a tune. The poem I recited was Shel Silverstien’s Milk Shake and the song I sang was “I am bringing home a baby bumble bee,” (a song from my younger years at camp). Dead silence followed when I completed my song and poem - there was a translator and they had to explain what I just did. Well the dead silence was followed by laughter and I got my first role in theater - and he wanted me to sing. I was hoping this play was going to be a comedy, which it was. Once again I traveled to Russia and performed in the International Theater Festival, I also studied directing, costume making, set design and mask making. It was amazing to see how they could make something fabulous with very little resources or money. I was there during the Revolution.

Post Graduation. Okay now I am done with school what am I going to do? I lived in a very high-end loft in Chicago. My roommate was the property manager so we got it for nothing. We advertised and often rented out our loft for film and photo shoots. About a week after graduation we got a call from a film company that was interested in using our space. They production company was from Korea and it was called Patemos Productions, affiliated with 20th Century Fox in Seoul Korea. After looking at our loft they decided they wanted to use it, and they also asked if I would like to audition, which I did. I landed a small role, best friend to the supporting actress. Eventually I was flown to Seoul Korea for the opening. We were mobbed everywhere we went. I am gong to wrap up my film days with one short experience: I wrote, directed and produced a show for NAPTE in San Francisco. Without using names, the head of Lorimar Productions met with me and then stole my ideas. Big learning lesson.

What I am doing now. I recently relocated to Florida, where my parents currently reside, after shutting down a profitable real estate investment company that went belly up after the lending had dried up. I also severed ties with my girlfriend as well. Prior to moving to Florida I said to myself - no kids, no girlfriend, no job. If I could do anything I wanted what would I want to do next? Fashion! And not just any fashion: fashion that was geared toward the lesbian community. I researched and sketched out my entire line, however after researching costs I realized that this was unrealistic at this time. So I researched people who where already doing it. This is where I found Parisa Parnian, creator and designer of Rigged Outfitters. I emailed her and two days before my departure date Parisa happened to be in Arizona and she stopped by my house to chat. I had next to nothing in the fridge. We sat on my balcony and drank tap water, ate stale grapes, chain-smoked and had a five-hour conversation. I now am an Executive Account Rep for Rigged - however we didn’t like the commercial title so my official title is Gunslinger 007.

Parisa is not just your average lesbian designer with rainbow-clad clothing. Her tag line is “Queer Clothing for Outlaws.” She started this line over four years ago when no one was creating this type of clothing. Her designs have been seen on The Lword, and on the pages of Curve, Velvet Park, and Girlfriends. I am truly honored to be working with her. She is a brilliant artist with lots of foresight.

Since I have arrived in Tampa to rep Rigged I have met a great community of girls and I am working on multiple projects. I am starting to do some PR events with a company called Twirl Girl, and I am also stylizing a young cast of 20 something to 30 something lesbians on a live, interactive, internet talk show called DyneTv.com. I have big vision of where my future is headed and I am off to a fabulous start down a wonderful path.

Other Tidbits. I was in Germany and was at Check Point Charlie before the Wall came down. I was with a friend who’s Uncle was on the other side. Her family was Jewish.

I was a key witness in a murder trial, and identified the hit man.

My first job was doing PR for a large Chicago night club where I hung out with all the rock stars of the 80’s

I did a shoot for Playboy.

I’m dyslexic.

I didn’t come out until I was 40 and now wonder what took me so long!

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