Eric LaBree (BFA ’13)

18 Studies, mixed media on paper, 39”x99”

My work consists of taking many disparate things – coming from personal experiences, observations, or just playing with new ideas and designs – and composing them into a space for them interact with one another. What results is a sort of dream-space, where narratives are implied, but nothing is certain. Playfulness becomes important when making the work, allowing for the components to be created together without an obvious hierarchical structure. Serene scenes are mixed with humorous characters, rigid shapes jut into organic ones, and implied space exists within the same realm as flatness. The inhabitants are fixated on their own meanderings or conflicts, aloof enough for us to study them closely without confrontation. Their hapless suffering, contemplative introspection, and determined actions become inconsequential, reserved to their own universe and merely casting a shadow onto our own.