The empty coats and dresses of my recent work reflect on identity as both journey and construct, accumulated and fabricated from the critical moments and turning points that indelibly mark our lives. Clothing simultaneously transforms and disguises, exposes and hides; my paintings represent the subconscious in the act of transporting the past into present and future imagination. The circles, lights and butterflies in my work speak to the subconscious vs. the more tangible, corporeal qualities of the dress.
My work is figurative, yet abstract in the sense that I see the surface as a skin, its drips, blotches, scratches and slashes suggesting the gradual accumulation of events and their corresponding traces. For me, the sense of accumulation and construction in the surface of the work creates an intriguing tension with the sense of a single captured moment - frozen, blurred, and imbued with emotional force.
The recent inclusion of text and graffiti in my work references our universal desire to tangibly show our presence, to make our selves heard, to leave our mark. Whether thinking of the human presence as the elusive interior world of the subconscious or the more material, gritty and visible text of graffiti, in the end I view my work as successful if my paintings can make the viewer feel just a little bit naked.
Laura Schiff Bean, December 2010
SOLO and Two Person Shows
2011 Lanoue Fine Art, Boston “24/7”
2010 Pryor Fine Art, Atlanta NEW WORK
2009 Gallery One, Nashville. INTERSECTIONS: Between Dreams and Memory
2009 Bennett Street Gallery, Atlanta NEW WORK
2009 Lanoue Fine Art, Boston JOURNEY
2008 Gallery One, Nashville IN MINDS EYE
GROUP SHOWS
ELEANOR D. WILSON MUSEUM at Hollins
University , VA . July 2007,” VISIONS: CONTEMPORARY FEMALE ARTISTS”
2012 She Comes and Goes as She Pleases, Gilman Contemporary, Ketchum, ID
2012 Art Market, San Francisco, CA, Gilman Contemporary, Ketchum, ID
2012 Forre Fine Art, Aspen & Vail, CO
2012 Argazzi Fine Art, Lakeville, CT
2012 West Branch Gallery, Stowe, VT
2011 Gilman Contemporary, Ketchum Idaho
2011 Blue Gallery, Kansas City, MO
2011 Lanoue Fine Art Boston, MA
2010 Forre Fine Art, Aspen, CO
2010 Madison Gallery, La Jolla, CA
2010 Blue Gallery, Kansas City, MO
2010 Lanoue FIne Art
2009 Lanoue Fine Art, Boston,MA
2009 Bennett Street Gallery, Atlanta,GA
2008 Lanoue Fine Art, Boston, MA
2008 Bennet Street Gallery, Atlanta
2008 Gallery One, Nashville, TN: 3 person show, “In Minds Eye”
2007 Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN Packages Large & Small
2007 Cumberland Gallery, Nashville,TN 2007 “Artists In Heat”
2007 Lanoue Fine Art, Boston, MA “VISIONS: Contemporary Female Artists”
2007 Lanoue Fine Art Boston, MA Group Show
2006 Etheringon Fine Art, Vineyard Haven Group Show
2005 Windsor Gallery, Dania,FLA Group Show
2003 Hanson Gallery, Wellfleet,MA: Group Show
2001 Artana Gallery, Framingham,MA: Group Show
PUBLICATIONS
ArtScope 3/2009
ArtScope 7/2008
Boston Globe 3/23/2000
Arts Media, December 1996
SELECTED CORPORATE COLLECTIONS
Escada Retail Inc,Boston, MA
St. Regis Hotels, Atlanta, GA
Gaylord Entertainment Resorts,Nashville,TN
Bellevue Research Inc,Cambridge, MA
Medical Portfolio Mgt., LLC, Cambridge, MA
EDUCATION
School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 1991-1997
George Washington University, BA 1970-1974
661 sun valley road
post office box 3005
ketchum, idaho 83340
208.726.7585
fax 208.726.7586