Magnolia Laurie

November Charlie (I am in distress and require immediate assistance) 2008 18 x 18 in. oil on panel	tangled in the answer, my signal was lost 2008 18 x 18 in. oil on panel	confidently built on silt, but in my hands your side is leaning 2008 18 x 18 in. oil on panel	a desire to communicate 2008 18 x 18 in. oil on panel	precarious structure (suspended in what I thought you were and would be) 2008 24 x 24 in. oil on panel

in a struggle between order and chaos 2008 18 x 18 in. oil on panel	she said: "The extremes are easy, only the middle is a puzzle." 2008 24 x 24 in. oil on panel	a little paradigm of failure 2008 12 x 12 in. oil on panel	when you swagger in among us, I notice the void 2008 18 X 18 in. oil on panel	SOSOs.o.s. for U. & I. 2008 dimensions vary found, gathered, and constructed materials

Artist's information

Magnolia Laurie CV

Magnolia Laurie statement

Artist Statement

In my paintings vast, often desolate, spaces are depicted. Referencing the arctic or the desert, they are invented environments posing the question: where do we go from here? Structures appear within the landscape, some proposing a possible system of communication, others referring to a vulnerable and perhaps futile attempt to create shelter. The structures and systems created are illogical; they are delicate and makeshift in a way that may not endure their own weight, let alone the impending disruptions. Yet, they are made, and to me they reference the sustained need to try, to build, to create, even in the face of complete futility. My paintings are of invented architecture and imagined ruins, they represent the instinctive, sometimes manic, and desperate act of building and within them I am thinking about the cyclical rise and fall of civilizations.