Meet Richard Laurent

Today we’d like to introduce you to Richard Laurent.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I’m a painter who draws. I arrived from Denver to study printmaking with Misch Cohn at the Institute of Design. Ultimately, I received a Bauhaus education in visual design. My part-time job at the time was mounting photographs for Mies van der Rohe. Upon graduation and until I was drafted into the Army, I worked for various boutique design firms in Chicago, including a part time position at Unimark International. After the military, everything changed. I was obsessively drawing and wanted to make money doing it. My initial freelance assignments were in pen & ink. I drew for the Chicago Reader on a weekly basis for 15 years. Meanwhile, I found a position in publishing at Encyclopaedia Britannica Educational Corporation where I became their multi-media designer. I used my contacts to develop a freelance illustration business. This eventually brought me clients from publishing, advertising, magazines and books–including the Louvre Museum. I left EBEC as Creative Director in 1991 largely because of political issues but also because I was illustrating nearly full-time outside of the office.

I was also visiting art museums and studying the painting process in earnest. This eventually led to gallery representation. In 2007, I decided to try out for editorial cartoonist at the Chicago Sun-Times and drew daily editorial cartoons for almost two years while continuing to paint in my studio. In 2013, following a TEDxTalk by
my partner, Cheryl Jefferson, and with curator/artist Charles Gniech, we started a social justice fine art initiative entitled, “The Art of Influence: Breaking Criminal Traditions.” This evolving exhibition of professional fine artists has seen seven venues around the country and I continue to be a participating artist and producer.

Please tell us about your art.
I am an oil painter who is inspired by the European Masters, Latin American magical realism, and contemporary Meta-realism as it contrasts against 20th century Modernism. Every day I go to my studio in the Fine Arts Building to paint— intuitively. I’m always discovering some universal truth about things. My painting process has nothing to do with gathering information that is all ‘white noise’ to me. But exploring visual conundrums in paint has become a spiritual journey for me that, I am certain, inspires many other artists as well.

My goal in making a painting is to create a balance between concept and execution. I haven’t given up on the aesthetics of beauty brought forward through generations of great painters, but I love creating a well-designed work of art. Naturally, I want to share my journey of discovery with my audience. That’s why I paint.

The take away for the viewer, is that they will see and discover a narrative or reality of their own.

My paintings don’t always provide answers. “This is a red dog” is not my goal in using the image as subject. If there is a Jungian connection to my work it is this; “One doesn’t dream in abstract shapes.” The red dog has symbolic meaning in my work.

We often hear from artists that being an artist can be lonely. Any advice for those looking to connect with other artists?
My time in the studio has always been sacrosanct for me. That being said, networking for the artist is like water for the goldfish. It is essential for every artist, especially when they are starting out in their career, Artists need to cultivate support groups for the purpose of survival in an exclusionary cultural environment. Fine art is also a business for the professional artist.

I often tell my illustration students at Columbia College that the people who are sitting to their right and the people who are sitting to their left in class may very well end up being colleagues in the work world. They may also end up being their best clients.

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
My work can be viewed at my studio 922, Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago 60605 or online:

www.laurentart.com

www.breakingcriminaltraditions.com

richer@rcn.com

Instagram: richardlaurent2511

Coroflot.com/Laurent/political-cartoons

Contact Info:

• Address: Studio 922
  Fine Arts Building
  410 S. Michigan Avenue
  Chicago, IL 60605
• Website: www.laurentart.com
• Phone: 847-373-7178
• Email: richer@rcn.com
• Instagram: richardlaurent2511
• Other: Coroflot.com/Laurent/political-cartoons

Image Credit:
© Richard Laurent. all images.