Laura Shechter

Litchfield Manson

Medium:

Drawing

Artist Statement:

I am a still life and cityscape painter and a contemporary realist. With in contemporary realism, I consider myself a perceptualist which I define as being more concerned with usual vision than European painting conventions. I paint a moment of light with all if its visual contradictions. I have strong feelings about the objects in my still lifes. The relationships between my objects are formal but at times they have an implied narration. Although my approach tends to be linear and precise, I try to have a beautiful and sensual surface.
My cityscapes, which are photo-based, also describe one moment of light. Many are organized into landscape space, parallel bands. The forms and space in these paintings are clear with decorative patterns, eg., windows, trees… I am also interested in graffiti. I appreciate contemporary architecture, new or renovated that has incorporated rich intense color in their design
My drawings are also closely observed with subtle tones built up in a single hatch technique.
Although my still lifes and cityscapes are different genres, they each borrow from the other. Some of my horizontal still lifes are like a sky line, while the spacial relationships in some cityscapes are more related to those of an interior.
Some influences are northern Renaissance art, Indian Miniatures, and interacting with other contemporary realists. My work evolved during the feminist art movement and I have incorporated some of its ideas. My teacher, Ad Rhinehardt, {the father of minimalism} helped me evolve a philosophy of aesthetics. He was also a noted orientalist. I traveled around the world in 1966-67 and the 1970. This experience added complexity to my art work which seems so rooted in western painting tradition, but also includes the aesthetics of the east, notably, India