No Lockdown for my Puglia dream Painting

"Painting, painting. Always painting. Still painting. To the best of my capacity, the empty and the full, the light and the dense, the living and the spirit". Zao Wou Ki "Peindre, peindre.Toujours peindre. Encore peindre. Le mieux possible, le vide et le plein, le léger et le dense, le vivant et le souffle." Zao Wou Ki. Laurence Causse-Parsley (LAC) is a French-British self-taught artist based in London. Her first solo exhibition took place in Mumbai, India, in 2003. Shuttling between countries and cultures, LAC gives herself the freedom to select materials from changing contexts. The result is a very distinctive style built on skilled use of mixed media, layering techniques and a bold exploration of colour inherited from her Mediterranean childhood. Very often she approaches the canvas from all sides, painting in a very energetic way, seeking and welcoming the unexpected. LAC has developed a consistent body of work inspired by her immediate physical and social environment, expressing her individual interpretations. Her main source of inspiration for many years has been the cities she lived in, visited or imagined, including London. They are cities in permanent flux and are often expressed as an experience rather than as depictions of a site. Reacting to the major changes in our daily life brought on by the COVID pandemic, LAC felt compelled to push her landscapes towards more abstract forms. The resulting Wish I Were There Series, with its large colourful plans, broken lines and abstract forms engages the viewer in a narrative of contemplative spaces. Despite travel restrictions, these works embody essential human need for the freedoms that were put on hold for a while. Nevertheless, as time goes by and we move away from the pandemic, the Wish I were series there continues to develop and embraces a wider narrative : a two-way encounter between the artist and the viewer. An active member of Make Space Studios since 2011, LAC has been involved in many curated and selective group exhibitions in the UK and internationally. The Brompton Chapel in London and BGallery in Paris hosted two successful solo shows in 2019 featuring her urban landscape body of works. LAC ‘s artworks are in numerous established galleries and private collections throughout Britain, Europe and The Far East. She was selected to participate as an artist in residence in Japan (Kyoto) in April 2016.