Review of Journey.. Lauralynn White @Oliva Gallery

 Review by Ron Schira, Art Critic

Over the last two decades artist Lauralynn White has been articulating the implicit inter-connectedness between the human figure and the dynamics of nature. Being female, the majority of forms she represents are poetical expressions of herself in graceful gestures and exotic poses as the everywoman. Her representations of the male are equally dynamic in expression but her primary focus is a response to her own gender and life.

 That said, the myriad ways she gets this idea across is through endless innovations of style and medium that incorporate classical standards of figure drawing (a constant motif throughout) with illustrative technique and fanciful color. Recently, the work has migrated atop earthy surfaces with her figures imbued onto hollow wooden doors and flat stone. She “reads” into the organic patterns and textures of these materials to extract the human essence from within its variegated surfaces; like looking into clouds but seeing yourself embedded in them.

 Her latest scrolls of female nudes seem as if they could wrap around a colossal Etruscan urn or cover the inner walls of an Egyptian tomb with pictorial narratives that recall women's roles throughout the entire of history. References to Medieval Manuscripts, Middle Eastern Icons, Degas' ballerinas and comic books, Matisse's dancers as well as Salvador Dali's paranoia critical method of looking can be regarded as subtle homages to all of these oddly related artforms.

{Connections: Sisterhood I, oil on linen, 72”x12”}

An avid doodler, White takes tiny drawing pads with her to public events, concerts and exhibitions. Accompanied with a linear shorthand developed over many hours of life drawing classes and workshops, she would sketch out a figure through imaginative observation, and, with a frenetic abuse of illustration pens, morph a human form into trees and branches while pushing the figure into submerged shadow within a pesky, consciously scribbled space.

Extending this methodology further, the artist took numerous photographs of landmasses seen from an airplane. These aerial views of all the twists, turns and curves of rivers and hills are then printed and suggestively reworked with ink, resulting in languorous females luxuriating upon a living planet.

{Aerial I, ink on photograph, 7.25”x10”}

These works are subtle in their implications, finding their strength in cultural memory and art history while keeping the image of the female form entirely forefront. A prime example of this are the gold-framed icons of women lounging against a blazing carmine red background with touches of gold.

In contrast to the long-established Orthodox history of male-oriented icons of saints and savior; the halos, bibles, ceremonial attire and depth of demeanor are absent. The women are relaxed, as if just getting out of the bath, either stretching or sleeping, and the mixture of Russian iconography with Degas' bathers is yet another odd pairing of historical ironies.

An important feature of any classical art education, life-drawing is a direct observation of the human creature and is as ancient as it is modern. In White's firm anchoring within this practice, she sees a different direction, a separate path, and attempts to place all of these women in alternate settings while proposing in the future that these and many other women journey toward greatness.

Ron Schira

2021

video tour of (almost) WHITE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsAqaZbig3c&authuser=0

Albright University Radio WXAC 91.3 Interview with Lauralynn White @ Freedman Gallery Originally aired Feb 12, 2017

Albright University Radio WXAC 91.3

Interview with Lauralynn White @ Freedman Gallery

aired Feb 12, 2017

David Tanner: You’ve been listening to WXAC 91.3  the voice of Albright College Radio

Interviewer: OK. That was Birdie with “Skinny Love”

David Tanner: That was really lovely. Yeah, absolutely. I have a feeling that might have been influenced on by the New Nudes Exhibition.

Interviewer: Most definitely.

David Tanner: (chuckling)Yeah. Not that all of the people depicted are skinny by any means, but..

Interviewer: Hey, all the nude is beautiful in it’s many different ways.

David Tanner: Absolutely, all shapes and sizes welcome. Ah, so let’s talk a little bit about that. You…um…we’re going to play an interview here shortly that you had with one of the artists in that show. But, overall, what did you think?

Interviewer: I absolutely loved it! That was actually one of my favorite exhibitions so far..

David Tanner: Oh, nice

Interviewer: um, the human body itself as a subject in Art is a traditional subject. And the way these two artists depicted the nude in art, in their own artistic ways, was very different and very beautiful.

David Tanner: Yeah, I think that is very interesting that you mention that, because, one of the things that, in putting those two artists together that we really wanted to showcase was the conversation basically between the different ways that they portray the nude. And so, Paul, his work is very bold… for the color palette.  It is, you know, very graphic in some of its stylings, and… it’s very different, really, in juxtaposition to the more lush figures that emerge from the landscapes… often you can’t necessarily see them right away..

Interviewer: They’re very subtle..

David Tanner: Right, they’re very subtle in Lauralynn’s work. The color palette too is very subtle – lots of kind of earthy greens, pastels, some lavenders, and lilacs and light blues and things like that. So, very, very different approach but an interesting conversation, I think, that the works are having with each other within the space. So, anyway, Lauralynn is a local artist, Paul Rybarczyk is an artist from Buffalo as well. And, ah, let’s hear a little bit more about Lauralynn in the interview you did. Is that alright?

Interviewer: That’s perfect.

David Tanner: Alright, here we go!

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Interviewer: So, is this your first time being shown at the Freedman Gallery?

White: It is! This is my first time [exhibiting] in the Freedman Gallery. I’m very excited about it!

Interviewer: That’s really great. So, how long have you been an artist for?

White: I’ve been an exhibiting artist since 2005. I’ve been an artist since I was 12 years old.

Interviewer:  Have you…I’ve noticed that in your paintings  you tended to go for natural kind of painting when it comes to the nude art works. Is that sort of like your style?

White:  Ah, yes. I try to integrate the human body with the natural world. So      the human figures are part of the landscape and, um, not separate from it.

Interviewer: MmHmm. Is that because when it comes to the nude, especially in art history, it’s seen as traditional but in some other forms it’s seen as taboo?

White: (mm-hmm)

Interviewer: Is that what you would say when people critique that?

White: I don’t see the human form as taboo. I know that there are, um, factions that might think that way. I use the human body as a vehicle for expression. I think everyone can relate to the nude as being an all-natural way of being, And that is how I see it. I see it as a way to take away all the veils. The clothing being a barrier between what is true and what is…what is not. That’s how I see it.

Interviewer: Ah, that’s fantastic.

When did you start?  …you did mention you are a painter - But I see other works that are painted on panels of wood. Can you talk about how you got started into that?

White: Uh, yeah. It’s just an extension of putting nudes in landscapes with paint, I have a lot of paintings that are actually human figures as trees, and so it’s really only a half-step from that to use the wood grain itself to bring the figures out. So about two years ago I really started exploring that and finding the figures in the wood grain. Although my whole life I have been “seeing things” in wood grain. When I was a kid it was rabbits and horses and now that I am primarily a figural painter, it’s nudes.

Interviewer: That’s amazing. So, following up on that, where did you grow up?

White: I grew up in the Pottstown area near Ringing Rocks -- across from an apple orchard, Romig’s Orchard and so I was always a country girl. I had a lot of… my inspiration comes from the rolling hills of Pennsylvania and I’m also a skier, and so a lot of the mountain shapes lend themselves very well to figural integration…

Interviewer: I can definitely see how that can resemble almost like the curves and shapes of the human body.

White: Yes. Yes. So, that’s where out in the world …and I was also very lucky in that my parents took us traveling all over the United States when I was a child. So, I’ve had the opportunity to be in the Badlands, and to be in Bryce National Park and the Grand Canyon and the Grand Tetons, the mountains. So, I have all this visual vocabulary built up from the time I was a little kid. So, that once I started painting and drawing nudes, I could just see that correlation between the human figure and the way it works and moves and the rest of the natural world. How it all jigsaws together, like a puzzle.

Interviewer: That’s really great. To my final question. Do you, there’s another artist here who also paints nude subject matter. What’s your take on Paul’s work?

White: Oh, I love Paul’s work! I love his palette, I love the way he blocks out the canvas, especially this piece over here on the wall behind us, I love the color blocking in that! I like the way his figures move in the space. When I was originally  asked to do this show with Paul, I immediately Googled him and I was just like “Yeah. Oh yeah, I’ll do a show with him. That work is really dynamic and, um, I really love the work. He’s a little more,um…ahhhh… how should I say this? He’s less subtle in his portrayal of the nudes then I tend to be. I really enjoy having that moment of discovery a lot of times with both wood panels and the landscape nudes where you are maybe not immediately aware that it is a nude figure. You maybe have to have that “AH HA” moment and, uh, Paul is much more up front about his portrayals.

Interviewer: Final question. What do you want people to take away from the New Nudes show?

White: Ahhh.. Just that it is still a dynamic way to express yourself. The figural or representational art is a very vibrant and still going. I really feel that using the human form, makes the work very relatable to people that you can feel connection and that’s one of the reasons I really love working with the nudes and human body because everybody has got one. Nobody can say, “Oh, I can’t relate to a figure” because we all are human.

Interviewer: Thank you so much.

14th Annual GoggleWorks Studio Artists Exhibit

As an Alumna of the GoggleWorks, I am exhibiting my painting “Verdant” from

November 2, 2018 -January 4, 2019

Opening Reception is November 2nd 5:30-7:30pm

“In its thirteenth year, GoggleWorks Center for the Arts proudly presents the 14th Annual Juried Studio Artists’ Exhibition. The resident studio artists and alumni represented in this exhibition are in many stages of development. They are from a wide cross section of the regional artist community and range from emerging artists to established professionals with National reputations. Representing a large variety of mediums, this eclectic group features a collection of recent work. The artists were selected by the Exhibition Committee Jury to be included in the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts’ studios over the past 12 years. The annual exhibit includes watercolor, oil, acrylic, photography, ceramics, sculpture, and multi-media pieces created within the past year.

More than just a work space, GoggleWorks Juried Studios fosters growth by providing studio artists with a community of professionals in the field willing to engage critically with each other. These artists regularly collaborate on projects within the building and are engaged with the community beyond our walls. As you wander through this exhibition, take some time to wonder anew at the diverse talents that have come together in the largest center of its kind in the nation.”

New Website

New year, new direction!