Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Collins.
Laura, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I was raised in the west suburbs of Chicago and always loved arts and crafts as a kid. I went to Trinity High School in River Forest, an all-girls school with an exceptional art program. It was there that I was encouraged to pursue art as a career. I spent 4 years studying painting and studio arts at the University of Illinois in Champaign. Once back in Chicago, I obtained a Master’s of Arts degree and a Graduate Certificate in Women & Gender Studies. After completing this coursework, I felt armed with new techniques and perspectives that I would bring into my studio practice. My work today strives to humanize celebrity culture and create empathy through the exploitation of candid faltering.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
My art often depicts female celebrities caught in a moment of vulnerability. In 2016, I created a series of paintings titled “The Olsen Twins Hiding from the Paparazzi” in which the iconic sisters are seen 40 times over shirking photographers. That same year I painted another series titled “Runway Models Falling” which played into the audiences mixed impulses to laugh and/or feel remorseful and empathetic. In 2017, I painted “The Real Housewives Pointing Fingers” which was a series that demonstrated how acts of aggression can veil discomfort and be used to displace unwanted attention. My work plays with dark humor and I believe that these studies are a way for me to validate my own mixed emotions.
The stereotype of a starving artist scares away many potentially talented artists from pursuing art – any advice or thoughts about how to deal with the financial concerns an aspiring artist might be concerned about?
I believe that if you work hard enough at anything, you will eventually find success. Making a profit from your art is incredibly rewarding and validating but this is not why I create. I create because I have a constant and undeniable drive to make something. I believe each artist needs to figure out what “success” means to them personally. It may not necessarily be monetary.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I have paintings on display locally, at Dollop Coffee in Streeterville as well as in Brooklyn, New York at the THNK1994 Museum!
My work is all for sale online via www.lauracollins.com
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lauracollins.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauracollinsart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LauraCollinsArt/
Image Credit:
Bradley Kirouac
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