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Title: between here and nearest land
The subject matter of Magnolia Laurie’s work derives from her experiences— such as traveling, reading, her childhood, and world events. While she is heavily influenced by other artists, she was fifteen before she first viewed art in a museum setting. Before this point, her exposure to art came from books and her upbringing in a large family that encouraged the practice of drawing, an activity that her entire family participated in. For her family it was an equal playing field where no one was ranked higher than the other and everyone had something to learn from one another.
Despite the constants in Laurie’s upbringing: drawing, reading, and writing, she and her family moved regularly due to the odd jobs her parents held. The transient nature of her childhood has left a significant impact on the artist today. The moves shaped her to be a pragmatist, one who is not afraid to work within the confines of her everyday reality. In her work this is seen in the physical dimensions of her paintings. While she sees value in large work, she creates work to fit in more realistic settings. She knows that a large painting could never fit in her home or those of her friends. Not to mention, if she makes work larger she wouldn’t be able to transport it in her little Toyota. The result is beyond conventional,—each pieces intimacy has a distinct personality and character.
One of the earliest artists that Laurie became interested in was John Register. Laurie recounts that in high school she had discovered a book in the school library of his work. She felt an immediate connection with his vacant Californian landscapes. When she talked to her art teacher about the book that she had found, Laurie was surprised to hear that her teacher as well was heavily influenced by Register— her Art teachers Father was John Register himself! Register’s influence is still quite evident in her work today.
In broad terms, Laurie’s work conveys remote post apocalyptic settings in which she explores structure, cyclical processes, and human intervention. Her paintings, a sort of collage, are formed through memories, ideas, and source material ranging from her own personal drawings to her collection of fragments and mementos. It is important to note that Laurie considers the titles of her pieces as holding considerable weight.
One of the largest influences in Laurie’s work today comes from her experiences in Turkey. In Turkey she saw temporary lean-to like structures which people had assembled themselves fastened from scraps and re-purposed materials. These structures resembled geodesic domes and Utopian architecture. They were built upon ancient historical ruins of past civilizations that enforced the cyclical process of collapse and regrowth.
In addition to Laurie’s interest in structures, she is also concerned with disaster and catastrophe. Following the events of Hurricane Katrina and the tsunamis of the Pacific she came across interesting images of trees taken after the storm. The trees had collected the material possessions of people’s lives in their branches as the water rose. When the water finally receded, the trees became enormous nests containing both garbage and memories. The nests were as much as monuments as they were eyesores.
The artwork that Laurie now creates is also influenced by her appreciation in other artists work. Today her influences remain as similar as they were years ago. Laurie is still drawing everyday, amassing mountains of paper and journals as a result. In addition she is constantly reading and is interested in the power that books have to transform isolated text into reality. Her cohesive body of work is testament to her steady insightful focus and wide range of influences.
Magnolia Laurie’s image displayed above:
Title: between here and nearest land
Oil on panel, 14″ x 14″
Fall 2010
I believe that you must write extra on this subject. It may not be a taboo subject however usually persons are not enough to talk on such topics.
January 25, 2012 3:53 pm