"I think of these monotypes as pressings because of the direct hands on method for printing the images. I applied special 'studio magic' inks in the Abstract Expressionist manner directly to the women and men who served as 'living canvases,' similar to action field painting. They became the printing matrix while becoming works of art themselves and living paintings. This unusual process produced a unique textured impression like a fingerprint of each subject. As active participants in art making process, my subjects had a rare transformational experience seeing themselves as living art for a transitory moment, a unique benefit from an interactive process. They viewed themselves with delight, surprise and satisfaction. The prints provide the viewer with an experience in color, human scale and texture rather than an illustrative depiction of a person. The scale creates the impact since the body appears larger than life. You see what is normally unseen, a view that is super real and confrontational."

While challenging traditional and idealized imagery, the Monopressing & Flex-O-Gram series have universal, global appeal. They depict an alternate view of the average person that is undoubtedly human. As printmaking, the method is deceivingly simple concept yet complex in its entirety, resulting in surprise.

I became concerned about women's health issues and in the effect of altered and idealized female images during the highly publicized controversy over cosmetic breast augmentation implants and surgery in the early 1990's. The monotypes are part of a project to examine body fads, POP and classical iconography that began in a cavernous studio I occupied in San Francisco's SOMA district, an area that presents its own inner city urban challenges. Developing the collection combined my interests in the human figure and experimentation with materials and the pictorial. The pressings were intended to counter stereotypes while depicting non-idealized women and men. Based on public feedback, they apparently challenge current contemporary notions of beauty while presenting their own unique aesthetic. As natural portrayals, the process creates distortions that have an inherent beauty and fascination of their own. The forms defy iconic and mythological body images, contrary to beauty as we know it, unrealistic idealization and stereotypes.

The Breast Project: Artists" Comments On An American Obsession, is a multi media installation concept that examines contemporary female imagery in popular media and advertising. The word "breast" is a metaphor for women in general. A juried "images of the breast" exhibit and a hand made booklet produced in 1995 gave rise to public discussion and dialogue that seemed to have the pebble in the pond effect. Women are talking about body image, objectification, psychology, myth, esteem and women's health. The monotypes began as an experimental visual art component of this project.

Custom pressings as portraits: People became very excited about my method as a novel form of portraiture after I began exhibiting the monotypes in 1995. Commission Inquiries for custom pressings came in very quickly. Women and men wanted to document themselves as well as pregnant mothers to be. The use of non-toxic materials is a benefit to my subjects as well as myself.

The Performance works and media: The first interdisciplinary performance work took place at Enrico's in North Beach in Feb 1995 sponsored by ArtTables, a dining and art discussion group for local artists, writers and collectors. The series concluded with "The healing power of art," a multi-media ceremonial healing ritual in Jan 2001 at Cellspace. The pressings have been shown at fund raising and awareness events for women's health and breast cancer research.

Copies of related videos and photographs are included with monotypes created during live performances purchased for special collections. In all, 19 performance works were produced in collaboration with other artists, poets, photographers, and filmmakers. They took place during opening receptions for my showings and multi media events art venues, galleries, cultural centers and colleges in San Francisco, the SF bay area, Sedona, Key West and Mendocino.

On Painting:
I started out as a painter in remote historic village of Mendocino, CA on the rugged north coast. My first studio was in a dilapidated wooden garage with a dirt floor where I tried to be an urban painter. From 1968-73, I operated a gallery for regional, rural artists and artisans. After a variety of detours, I was able to relocate to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1978, and apprenticed to notable sculptor Spero Anargyros. I started accepting painting and sculpture commissions in 1980.

I tend to work in series to an aesthetic or material end, and view creativity as both a gift and a curse. The sense of inquiry is a major factor of the creative process. In 1984, I began a phase of experimentation with alternate materials out of need and curiosity, and turned to inner life as a source for imagery when I had to move my studio into a rough industrial warehouse.

Painting not necessarily reproduces a particular moment in every detail but conveys the existential spirit of the place and mood. My paintings are both autobiographical and flights of the imagination representing places that I have experienced, the atmosphere, sights, sounds, and light of the inner and outer world. After years of practice, I use a variety of approaches, some dealing with visions, an exploration of an inner world and mental images. Some depict non-objective mental concepts and states while others are more pictorial in concept, comments on the culture in which I live and thrive. Completion is a form of liberation from visual concepts and necessary in order to progress and to free the visions trapped in the mind.

Laura La Forêt Lengyel © 2007-2008. All Rights Reserved.