Laura Shapiro
Mixed Media Artist
I thought, naively, that once I entered my seventh decade, the inner and outer worlds that I occupy would be settled.
I imagined, after all the feminist struggling, we would have secured a women's right to control her own body, the safety and equality all people of color, the end of poverty, and high-quality medical care for all. I envisioned that my inner life would be undisturbed by the insecurities that an aging woman's body and psyche bring.
Currently, my art explores the challenges I and other older women face in this society. I make abstract collages using painted cardboard, ripping, layering, peeling back, revealing and concealing, and colliding, and off balance. The work is somewhat unsettled, vulnerable, and rough. Inspirations for my imagery include the movement of the earth's tectonic plates and immense rocks that tumble and then remain precariously balanced for a time. My work continues to evolve.
Artists who inspire me include Danh Vo, Frank Stella, Amy Sillman, Michaela Eichwald, Barbara Leoff Burge, Richard Tuttle, and unnamed visionary artists.