STATEMENT:
The empty coats and dresses of my recent work reflect on identity as both journey and construct, accumulated and fabricated from the critical moments and turning points that indelibly mark our lives. Clothing simultaneously transforms and disguises, exposes and hides; my paintings represent the subconscious in the act of transporting the past into present and future imagination. The circles, lights and butterflies in my work speak to the subconscious vs. the more tangible, corporeal qualities of the dress.
My work is figurative, yet abstract in the sense that I see the surface as a skin, its drips, blotches, scratches and slashes suggesting the gradual accumulation of events and their corresponding traces. For me, the sense of accumulation and construction in the surface of the work creates an intriguing tension with the sense of a single captured moment - frozen, blurred, and imbued with emotional force. The recent inclusion of text and graffiti in my work references our universal desire to tangibly show our presence, to make our selves heard, to leave our mark. Whether thinking of the human presence as the elusive interior world of the subconscious or the more material, gritty and visible text of graffiti, in the end I view my work as successful if my paintings can make the viewer feel just a little bit naked.Laura Schiff Bean, December 2010
BIOGRAPHY:
ELEANOR D. WILSON MUSEUM at Hollins University , VA . July 2007 "VISIONS: CONTEMPORARY FEMALE ARTISTS SOLO and Two Person Shows 2010 Pryor Fine Art, Atlanta NEW WORK 2009 Gallery One, Nashville. INTERSECTIONS: Between Dreams and Memory 2009 Bennett Street Gallery, Atlanta NEW WORK 2009 Lanoue Fine Art, Boston JOURNEY 2008 Gallery One, Nashville IN MINDS EYE GROUP SHOWS 2010 Blue Gallery, Kansas City, MO 2010 Lanoue FIne Art 2009 Lanoue Fine Art, Boston,MA 2009 Bennett Street Gallery, Atlanta,GA 2008 Lanoue Fine Art, Boston, MA 2008 Bennet Street Gallery, Atlanta 2008 Gallery One, Nashville, TN: 3 person show, "In Minds Eye" 2007 Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN Packages Large & Small 2007 Cumberland Gallery, Nashville,TN 2007 "Artists In Heat" 2007 Lanoue Fine Art, Boston, "VISIONS: Contemporary Female Artists" 2007 Lanoue Fine Art Boston, MA Group Show 2006 Etheringon Fine Art, Vineyard Haven Group Show 2005 Windsor Gallery, Dania,FLA Group Show 2003 Hanson Gallery, Wellfleet,MA: Group Show 2001 Artana Gallery, Framingham,MA: Group Show
COMPETITIONS 2009 Enicott College "Boston Paints: 22 Boston Painters" 2008 Danforth Museum Member Show Frances Roddy Competition, Concord Art Association 2005, 2006 First Expressions Gallery, Boston:Juried Competition 1997,1998,1999,2000 Annual Drawing Competition, SMFA 1996,1997
PUBLICATIONS ArtScope 3/2009 ArtScope 7/2008 Boston Globe 3/23/2000 Arts Media, December 1996
SELECTED CORPORATE COLLECTIONS: Escada Retail Inc,Boston, MA St. Regis Hotels, Atlanta, GA Gaylord Entertainment Resorts,Nashville,TN Bellevue Research Inc,Cambridge, MA Medical Portfolio Mgt., LLC, Cambridge, MA
EDUCATION: School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 1991-1997 George Washington University, BA 1970-1974L