ARTIST STATEMENT
My work is 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 and words are used to enhance or countermand the associations of the figurative images and symbols, 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 in the realm of two dimensional expression that mixed media collage 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. If you pursue it a lot or a little at any one time makes no difference…just return to it again and again. 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 recent curatorial work includes: Her Way With Print, Fletcher Hayes & Kim Laurel Collaborations: Verdant: A Survey of Five Illinois Nature Artists, 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 works are included in various recent 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 she was featured in the group exhibition “Serial and Sequential: A Printmaker’s Performance” at Argonne National Laboratory. Her work was included in the 2023 Evanston Biennial.
© Kim Laurel