"Using only her memory and a hyper-vivid imagination, Laura Footes paints intuitively when conjuring complex, dreamy scenes from her life. There are no photographic source materials or preliminary sketches when working in the studio; instead, she relies on the raw emotions and mental images that spring forth when recalling her past. The artist's paintings are rendered fluidly in oil paint to depict extremely personal spaces and scenes, all smartly softened and blurred to let viewers enter her life and mind."
"The notion of escape and release is a constant theme for Footes, which is not surprising, given she has experienced chronic illness since childhood, along with the psychological tolls it has spurred along the way. But what is unexpected is how poetic these remembrances and moments of anamnesis become in her painterly hands. A sense of catharsis and euphoria pervades as her painted figures come undone, sometimes turning to mist or fading into ghostly silhouettes."
"In the painting, Young Insomniac, a figure is seated alone on a bed, cast in strong directional light. As illumination turns to shadow, they melt and meld into the painting behind them, reforming as a nude woman running into the woods, like a nymph. In a clever twist, the inverse of this strange scene is presented in another canvas, Young Insomniac II, featuring a hovering rectangle that frames the backside of the same individual."
Laura Footes paints intuitively from memory and hyper-vivid imagination, avoiding photographic sources and preliminary sketches. She relies on raw emotions and mental images recalled from her past. Her paintings use fluid oil to depict intensely personal spaces and softened, blurred scenes that invite viewers into her life and mind. Themes of escape and release recur, shaped by lifelong chronic illness and its psychological impacts. Remembrances become poetic, producing catharsis and euphoria as figures dissolve into mist or ghostly silhouettes. Several works, including Young Insomniac and Young Insomniac II, portray figures transforming and unfurling into otherworldly vapor and forest-bound nymphs.
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