Laura Bell

Hydrilla #7, 9" by 9", Ink and acrylic on panel, 2007

Laura Bell paints gorgeous floral details in a dreamy color pallette. The wood panel adds depth and texture to the work and the microscopic slide quality reminds me of Beau Chamberlain's paintings.

"This current work explores the possibilities for disruption and fluctuation that grows out of an orderly strcuture. The images reference the natural, physical world, drawing on forms from deep-sea flora and fauna, microscopic organisms and cellular structures, and cryptogamous plants such as algae, lichens, fungus, and mold. The astonishing and often unsettling beauty found in natural phenomenon is explored through the use of imaginary, hybrid, and existent imagery.

The repeating marks and forms are derived from patterns of reptition found in biological systems, as well as by the regularity and repetition found in computer generated fractals and lace patterns. While the images are built on symmetrical and orderly forms, the drawings evolve and develop into a semi-chaotic tangle of ropey vines, bulbous growths, and spiky creatures. This rampant growth could recall the enchanted, yet sinister world of a child's fairy tale, the strange and unsettling beauty of deep-sea life, or the mutation of a cellular structure by a virus or disease. The delicate intricacy in the drawn and painted marks lures one in for a more intimate experience, and presents a dream-like, interior world populated by forms that are both familiar and mysterious."

www.pentimenti.com