Laura Mosquera received her M.F.A. from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1999. She has presented solo exhibition at the Contemporary Art Museum (CASA) in Salamanca Spain, Feigen Contemporary Gallery New York, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, moniquemeloche gallery, Savannah College of Art & Design, Bodybuilder & Sportsman Gallery and Hall Street Gallery in Savannah, GA. A permanent installation of paintings has been installed at the Archer Heights Branch Library commissioned through City of Chicago Percent for Art Program, and 8 billboards of her paintings continue to be exhibited at the Red Line Subway station at Chicago Ave. and State Street sponsored by the Museum of Contemporary Art and the CTA's Adopt a Station Project. She was a part of a traveling group exhibition in Montenegro and Serbia concluding at the National Gallery of Belgrade and was most recently part of a group show at the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work is in the collections of both the Museum of Contemporary Art; The Art Institute of Chicago and the Contemporary Art Museum (CASA) in Salamanca Spain. She was a Professor of Painting at the Savannah College of Art and Design and while there was named an International Council of Fine Arts Deans fellow. She has completed residencies at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts; the Hambidge Center in north Georgia and at the Ragdale Foundation. Currently, she is living and working in Brooklyn, NY.
How and why do we let someone affect our life? There can be a tendency to gravitate towards a commonality, but the need for independence remains. In every relationship there is a protagonist. Whether that protagonist is in the position of authority can shift depending upon perception.
This body of work began inspired by memories that are part of a larger narrative. The work has focused more sharply on describing power relationships. Some shapes take on visually dominating positions within the composition. Are they affecting the shape they sit or lay against or is the other shape able to absorb it and make it part of a greater whole?
The canvases are representative of specific situations drawing on my reactions to certain events. I use color and design elements, like pattern and texture, to describe a subtle tension within these mental landscapes. While using the language of abstraction I find a way to make sense of the world around me, and the way I walk through it.
