Laura Berger is in a Mood

Laura Berger is an artist based in Chicago, whose work explores self-understanding on levels both physical and spiritual. Laura’s most recent exhibition “Soft Bound” at Eve Leibe Gallery in London closed on June 30th.

1. Cincala Art: To what extent do you think your art is personal, and to what extent universal?

Laura Berger: It's definitely a combination of both. The themes I'm choosing to focus on are pretty universal, but they're all concepts that have a deep resonance for me personally. Since all of these general ideas get filtered through my own background, experiences, and whatever my current emotional landscape is, that probably inevitably pushes them a bit more towards the personal.

2. CA: So it sounds like it is a bit of push and pull, but that perhaps your emotions are the key driver?

LB: Yes, I do think of my paintings as being feeling-based—being born out of that place and primarily focused on conveying mood or emotion.

 3. CA: Some of your most recent work seems to me like landscapes formed out of complex intertwining of human bodies and forms. Is this something you think about when composing the paintings? To what extent do you feel like nature informs your work?

 LB: It's interesting because I feel like a lot of what I'm making is responding to a sense of longing that I have for different things, and nature is one of them. Connection is another. I feel a larger need for nature in my life than I'm able to have currently, living in a city and hustling quite a bit to stay afloat. So it may be that these ideas come from that place, and one of the themes I'm exploring a lot is our human relationship with the natural world. Creating those formations of figures that you mentioned started kind of accidentally and is really meditative for me - drawing one sort of lounging figure and then trying to add another, and another...it's enjoyable because it becomes almost like a puzzle to solve, like how can I make them all fit together and end up with something that's both pleasing to the eye and also functional in terms of narrative and composition? 

4. CA: Lately you've been working in oil rather than other media. Has moving to oil changed the way you execute your ideas? From the perspective of the slower drying time, do you make use of the flexibility that the material can provide?

LB: Yes, the medium shift has definitely had a huge impact on my work in many ways. Oil paint is so amazing in its versatility—there are so many different ways you can apply it and the effects you can achieve are pretty infinite; it's both exciting and overwhelming to me as a self-taught artist to think about how much there is for me to discover. I'm learning so much as I work, and I wish I had lots of extra time to just experiment. I work in layers now, so my process is much slower, and I usually have anywhere between 2-4 paintings in progress at a time. Using oils has opened up a lot of possibilities for me conceptually too—for example, the ability to create different light effects or transparencies, which are things I've been incorporating a lot lately, is much more achievable. I also get a lot out of the physical sensation of working with the paint; it's so tactile and has such an organic feel to it which helps me to feel more connected to the medium itself as I work, and it's just really enjoyable to use.

5. CA: Color seems to play a particularly important role in your paintings. To me the palette is often subtle, perhaps drawing from nature, as opposed to a more discordant mix of colors that might be more akin to an urban experience. Talk a little about how you view the use of color in your practice.

LB: Working with color is my favorite part of painting; it's probably what initially drew me to it for its therapeutic qualities. It's really such an incredible thing how we can both tap into our feelings and convey a mood solely through color combinations alone. In terms of the color choices, they're mostly just intuitive for me—using what feels right in the moment, both aesthetically and emotionally. Maybe since a lot of the themes I'm working with are coming from a sort of core or internal place it makes more sense if the colors lean more towards natural tones, but this isn't something I tend to think about consciously—I think it's just what I'm drawn to.

6. CA: One of the things that some have pointed to concerning the pandemic was a sort of forced reconsideration of how we are going about things, as individuals and as a society, and where our energies should really be focused. While the pandemic may not be over for many, we seem to be emerging from the darkest period at least and for the moment entering into a new, somewhat more normal, phase. I'm wondering what lessons you took from the pandemic, and specifically if (and how) it impacted your work?

LB: Personally I feel like I'm very much still on the whole transformational journey right now with the effects of these years still unfolding...especially here in the U.S. where the pandemic has intertwined with so much political and social upheaval. There are events happening daily here in our news cycle that are just far too intense to process; it's overwhelming. I've gone through many phases and every day is different so it feels a bit difficult to pin down the effects as I still feel quite in the midst of it all; mostly it feels like the before times were some sort of strange dream and I'm still finding my footing within this new era. But certainly all of those complex feelings and experiences get rolled into creative output. I mentioned previously that I switched mediums at the beginning of the pandemic and I feel like I'm only just now beginning to tap into a bit of flow with it, so overall it has felt like a super long transitional period and I'm not really sure what's next for me. I do feel like the uncertainty is becoming the norm now, so I hope to continue to become more resilient and I hope that learning to adapt to constant uncertainty could help me to paint more freely as well.

7. CA: Laura I know you have a love of travel. Have you been able to start traveling again, now that restrictions have been lightened? Are you approaching travel differently now?

LB: I do love traveling and I've missed it very much, for me there's nothing more inspiring than visiting a new place! In the past couple of years I've been to different areas in Mexico a few times, but I haven't been able to do much beyond that. It's been a really busy year for me with work so I've mostly been locked in my studio! I'm hoping to be able to get away for a bit in the coming winter. But yes, the current inflation and climate concerns are certainly having an impact on the way I'm thinking about traveling, too.

8. CA: What's next for you?

LB: I have solo shows coming up this year at Stephanie Chefas Projects in Portland, Oregon and Hashimoto Contemporary in L.A., as well as a couple of group exhibitions that I'm looking forward to.

CA: Thank you for providing us with some insight into your work Laura!

Laura Berger

Centered around themes of interdependence and self-understanding, Laura Berger’s images focus on figurative archetypes, intuitive color palettes and dreamlike minimalistic environments. Initially approaching painting as a therapeutic practice, her work serves as a means through which to explore and articulate experiences and memories that feel just out of reach, that exist on a more spiritual or emotional plane. Laura has exhibited her work at numerous galleries across the US and abroad.