@_lauraberger_

4/1/2017

Instagram:: @_lauraberger_ Facebook: www.facebook.com/laurabergerart Tumblr: tumblr.com/laura-berger Website: www.lauraberger.com

1. What's your story? Where are you from?

I'm an artist based in Chicago, USA. I grew up in Wisconsin and studied theatre in college and moved here after that, about 13 years ago now. I've always drawn and painted for fun, but it became more important to me after my father got ill and passed away -- I started painting after that as a way to try and feel better. I didn't really have any other intention for it at the time; it was just a nice distraction. Doing it for my full-time work evolved really slowly and naturally from there. our-waves

2. Tell us about your aesthetic.

My paintings are very minimal and clean and features a lot of nudie people and abstract elements.

3. What is your favourite medium and why?

Acrylic gouache paint. I like the very smooth matte quality I'm able to achieve with it.

4. What is your artistic process like?

I keep several running lists with any idea that crops up. I usually get a little vision of an image in my head, and then I'll go write it down or draw a little thumbnail sketch before I lose it. When I'm compiling ideas for a show or a series of paintings, I go back to these lists and hone in on the things that interest me the most. From there, I make tons of drawings to work through the ideas and then narrow those down again, and continue working further with the images I've selected. Then I'll think through colors, get the drawing up to the size I want it, and transfer that to my panel to paint. I'd say the preparation phase is actually probably the longest and most important for me.

5. Who and/or what inspires your work?

Travel is a huge source of inspiration for me. But honestly I think we're inspired in some way by everything that we take in. It all seeps in to our subconscious, gets filtered through our own personalities and histories and mashed up with all of the other things we've taken in, and new things arise from there.

6. What role does art play in your life? How does it change the way you view the world?

I am working most of the time so it definitely has a big space in my life. My experiences feed my work and my work feeds my experiences, so I would say it's very much a circle in nature. I feel like it keeps me very keyed in to color and emotion. the-forest

7. Where did you study?

I studied theatre in school. I've taken art classes randomly throughout my life, but it's mostly been a long slow self-teaching process.

8. Where do you see yourself in five years? Working in an agency?

I would like to continue doing exactly what I'm doing but with less fear -- making paintings and sculpture and improving my technique. I hope to continue having exhibitions and painting murals. I would love to do more exhibiting or residencies abroad so I could combine my work with my love of traveling.