Laurie Marchessault

Laurie Marchessault’s oil paintings capture a moment in time, undisturbed and seemingly serene, but are they? She wants YOU to decide. At first glance, you may see an arrangement of what seem like unconnected objects, but her paintings invite, even beckon, the viewer to stop and enter into an emerging and very connected narrative. Do you see scarcity or abundance? Austerity or exuberance? Faith or skepticism? Or will the painting’s quiet grace give you a feeling of happiness or contentment? It’s your experience, and what you can be sure of is an emotional response and the triggering of both memory and imagination and this is where you’ll find the magic in Marchessault’s work. Whether painting people or using found objects as well as the many gifts of nature, she carefully organizes an overall design. She begins by determining a tonal and spatial composition and at the same time carefully develops a unique and pleasing color palette testing the theories of color harmony. She layers the composition in such a way that it challenges the viewer to see through a veil, the magic elements of one’s own psyche. She touches on Magic Realism, a school of painting that give’s one’s imagination the space to be open to possibility and to find the connections between seemingly unconnected objects. Watch for her play of light and contrast shadows, her reflections in glass and mirrors. You might even see an entire world or big picture of something in what seems, at the moment, a minute detail. Marchessault describes herself as somewhat of a Modernist who paints in the manner of the revered Old Masters. Her technique includes the foundational tonal underpainting with layering of paint called Glazing. “In this process there is a genuine unfolding of form and atmosphere. The painting becomes three dimensional and as I work I am always searching for treasures of exquisite color, light and luminosity to present themselves.” She is most inspired by artists Fairfield Porter, Euan Uglow, Zander’s Zorn, and Gerhard Richter.