XX Painting

ARTIST STATEMENT Painting directly onto glass and paper surfaces with her hands and finger tips, the physicality of pressing, smearing and throwing thick globules of paint onto glass and paper surfaces captures feelings and movements. Laura uses music as an emotional trigger to create energetic marks and shapes, capturing the intimacy and intensity of her own emotions. The works are a messy, physical expression through paint and mark making. The minimal, primal marks are powerful and honest, highlighted by Laura’s monochromatic black and white pallet. The glass and paper surfaces are fragile in comparison, easily smashed, broken or torn. Once dried, Laura examines and observes each glass panel. Reflecting on her pigmented fingerprints, squiggles of paint and smudges, She chooses which painted marks to keep and which to remove. The process of erasing marks is therapeutic; seamlessly scraped and polished from the surface of the glass as if they never existed, Laura aims to create a balance within the minimal marks. These abstract expressions are finally put through a process of assemblage. Which over time has evolved into a ritualistic, meditative practice. The transparent nature of the glass allows the artist to layer up her marks, to find gestures that harmonise together, exploring the interaction of shape, light and shadow. Laura repeatedly moves and re-adjusts materials before finally settling on a composition. The assembly and partnering of pieces fill the artist with a calm relief. A stark contrast to the messy, physical, emotionally charged making process. Laura has always conceived her artworks in three-dimensional forms, creating pieces made up of multiple layers, considering shadows created by the dark painted marks as just another layer to her work . The completed pieces are multilayered, with paint, material, light and shadow of equal importance within each assemblage of parts. The works sit between painting and sculpture. Laura Hathaway b. 1988, Birmingham UK. Contemporary British painter based on the Isle of Wight. Laura trained at Falmouth University completing a BA in textile design with a specialism in hand embroidery, graduating in 2011. In 2013 she was selected to be an artist in resident participating in the Jubilee Stores 'Start Up Studio Program', funded by Arts Council England and awarded additional funding by ACE for her joint exhibition ‘Line & Shade’.