Laura Ball

A Spark and a Rush

2022

"Kinda a Terrier" a sentimental dog painting by Robert Zakanitch a founder of the Pattern and Decoration movement of the 1970's believes in painting subjects of beauty with delicate ...

"Almost Dachshund" a sentimental dog painting by Robert Zakanitch a founder of the Pattern and Decoration movement of the 1970's believes in painting subjects of beauty with delicate...

This series was inspired by a 1950’s era instruction manual found while clearing out my father’s basement workshop. The How To Light A Model manual employed voluptuous female models to teach lighting techniques to amateur photographers such as my father. Diagrams plot the prescribed direction of the lights. The nude women hold the pose, their lips bright red and their feet dirty from the studio floor. As naked props for the authoritarian photographer, their vulnerability seems palpable. This work visualizes the human condition as a balance between feral and fabricated worlds. Vivid, oversized creatures embody instinctual energy. Wax seals, gold spheres and text-like marks signify rational structures. One speaks in a whisper, the other in a hiss. Winifred McNeill...

The Remains, A series of 10 works An insect approaches a crumpled paper doily to eat what remains of a party. This series explores the moment when the trimmings become debris and presumptions of human control are upended. The text-like marks on white vertical rectangles are deliberate, but indecipherable. They appear as if a poem, written in an ancient language, that honors this eternal cycle of destruction and regeneration. Winifred McNeill...