Laura Letchinger
Los Angeles, CA
urban abstract expressionism . . . Please visit my website for installations, additional sold works and more info.
MessageI began making art when I was little. Drawings, cartoons, calligraphy . . . and countless chalk murals . . . were a huge part of my childhood in a small town outside of Chicago. One of the first memories I have of mark making was when I was very little and discovered piles of new white paper and freshly sharpened pencils in my grandparents’ attic. I vividly remember drawing a single crisp line across the vast emptiness of the paper, and for whatever reason, I loved everything about that. Still do.
I lived in the city (Chicago) for years, in Wicker Park before major gentrification, and soaked up graffiti almost every day while running and biking long distances. Layers of new vibrant colors over old fading compositions on top of even older brick buildings created a really fantastic visual; the energy and the unknown stories behind that resonated deeply. I biked home from work often between midnight and 2am in the wintertime, when streets were empty and the foundry I always rode by was fired up, throwing its intense glowing heat through the open dock and out into the snowy cold. Something about opposites playing off each other in general was extremely beautiful and inspiring. That imagery fueled the poetry I wrote at the time and I can definitely see its influence in many of the paintings I make now.
Life took different directions, and it was in 2013 that I began painting and selling work online. I’ve also been represented by galleries in Houston and Los Angeles.
Statement
I create large contemporary abstract paintings from my studio in Los Angeles. I also collaborate with Skid Row based mosaic arts nonprofit Piece by Piece to produce large combination painting/mosaic artworks.
Self-taught, I respond to the moment with an openness to change, a variety of mediums, nuanced marks and expanses of color. Through a fairly experimental process a textured, layered and edgy urban abstract composition often comes through. Organic shapes and "free-flowing" movement are sometimes accompanied by bold graphical lines and forms.
I paint because it's the best way for me to connect with the universal creative energy that's in and around all of us, all the time. When we're able to really click with it, whether through our jobs, hobbies, our family roles, work in our communities, or even when we're just alone . . . I describe it as a feeling of "energized calm with inspired momentum." It's like riding a wave or a jet stream . . . it's way bigger than an individual and can invoke deep feelings of gratitude. For me, it's a peek into what's possible . . . the joy of oneness, the excitement of creating and the potential for that energy to inspire us as we evolve. Marks are made on the canvas because of "knowing" what to do, not "deciding", so when an art piece appears out of this synergy, I'm excited not by what I've created, but by what that partnership has created. For me, painting is a fascinating place of relief, renewal, magic and surprise - it's a very hopeful place, full of the possibilities of each moment.