Artist Statement
My artwork begins in landscape. By reducing natural forms to their essential elements,
I reveal their abstract power. In the unpredictable, chaotic forces of nature and the disquieting sense of loss due to climate change, I see and want to illustrate their terrible beauty. Floods, hurricanes and rising temperatures are now regular occurrences rather than exceptional events. To the resultant melting of icebergs and threats of tornadoes, I offer the hope of spinning windmills. I seek to capture the peculiar beauty of the emergencies that surround, to remind us of what we urgently need to protect. Landscape is also the inspiration for a series that depicts man-made, functional structures and the spaces they occupy. The heroic engineering of often overlooked and mundane structures; dams, underpasses and power lines transcend their utility or purpose and for me, become genuine sculpture.
- Laura Hexner, 2017