Laura Appelman

My current work involves two vastly different approaches, resulting in different bodies of work.  The first, acrylic on canvas, reflects my fascination with the dramatic possibilities arrived at by modifying seemingly mundane still-life photos into totally new, vibrant creations, surreal and compelling.

My process involves manipulating aspects of color, proportion, contrast, and saturation of digital photographs.  I begin by photographing arrangements of various succulents, overgrown and untamed, modifying them digitally into their other-worldly extremes of color, size and shape, and then painting a version of this new view.  The result is a floating story of super-real, luminous fronds, insects, stalks, flowers, and vines, with no hint of human presence or intervention.

At the other extreme, my other body of work explores new stories, this time, of people, rather than the natural world.  This collection, titled “We Lived” has as its focus people whose images were captured, mostly in tiny sepia photos, in the early to mid 20th century, many in London (the original home of my Mother and her large extended family), and the English countryside.  After digitally modifying and deconstructing each photo, I print the elements, now reassembled, on acetate, combining them with elements of other photographs, and finally affixing them to a canvas which I have painted, using acrylic paint, and other media.

I am a lifelong artist.  I grew up surrounded by contemporary art and professional artists.  My Mother, Sylvia Appelman, a Chicago painter who worked from the ‘50’s through the late 80’s, created her own super-real world of very over-sized figurative paintings she termed “New Realism.”  My home was a learning laboratory.  While not majoring in art in undergraduate or graduate school, I have studied art through myriad courses, workshops, and tutorials essentially every year of my adult life.