ARTIST STATEMENT
My work is a symbolic commentary on sociological and environmental issues in a complex and alienating society. The themes are inadequacies in society posed as allegory. Primal experiences, nature, and personal identity for example, so basic to our understanding of existence, are symbolized in this allegorical world. Contemporary cultural icons, plant and animal images are used to enhance associations, emphasizing the dichotomy between physical self-survival and spiritual isolation. Utilizing printmaking and collage as an extension of drawing and painting, I have found that mixed media is the most authentic and subjective tool to express my voice.
For me, Art is about persistence, a life study and discipline. It is part of my life. Let the presence of touch back into your life and embrace the new with reference to all that you have learned.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Kim Laurel is a Chicago based mixed media artist, illustrator and graphic designer and has exhibited in the United States, Canada and England since 1977. She studied at Oberlin College, the Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland State University and Illinois State University. Her works of art are part of various public and corporate collections.
Laurel’s solo curatorial work includes Her Way With Print at Woman Made Gallery. Fletcher Hayes & Kim Laurel Collaborations include: Black/White/Gray, Element Flux, Ethereal Fauna: The Artistʼs Muse, Tool Box Flower Box, Integrant Element Lab, Redux Loop, Wild Things and Beyond. She is a long-standing member of Woman Made Gallery, the Mid America Print Council, the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative and the Chicago Artistʼs Coalition. Kim’s art is exhibited in many Chicago galleries and institutions and is represented by the Workshop Print Gallery – Chicago Printmakers Collaborative, Chicago, Il. She teaches private and public classes at the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative. Her work was included in the 2015 exhibitions and publications: “Convergence: The Poetic Dialogue Project” at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art and “City Creatures” at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum and the publication “City Creatures” by the Center for Humans and Nature, University of Chicago Press. In 2016 her works are featured in the group exhibition “Serial and Sequential: A Printmaker’s Performance” at Argonne National Laboratory. In 2019 Laurel’s one person exhibition “Allegories of Nature” was featured at the Chicago Union League Gallery. She has continued working and exhibited through the pandemic in both group exhibitions and collaborations.
© Kim Laurel