Laura Woermke 

Whatever life a female leads, there is a label she’ll have to live down or live up to.  

These conceptions are so embedded into our society, vocabulary and way of thinking

that I find it unnecessary to state examples.  It is rarely a female’s own choice; it is

someone else that gives her the title to make her less or more than she really is.  Labels

have become living organisms, subject to laws of cultural evolution.  They are born, they

grow, and they die and / or change to fit the times.  These labels and laws have been

the focus of my past works. 

Ultimately, what is at the core of this new work is my personal reaction to these

hindering limitations, not the depiction of certain qualities.  It is my attempt to articulate

these labels as they are revealed to me.  Words seem to fall short when communicating

my response and I have found that the avenue of painting to be the best vehicle.  Using

the female figure within the painting enables an opportunity to communicate directly to

the viewer’s senses since we all can recognize the forms of a fellow human being.  It

also offers a chance to retain a sense of fluidity while working, so section of the painting

can rise and fall in importance.

My “women”,  reflect a profound sense of isolation, rootlessness and isolation.  Depicted

as the sole subject in each work, the female is painted with a quiet aggression and

combativeness, to demonstrate both an acceptance and denial of the social constructs. 

The figure is threatened by the energy of the process that has created it.  They are

distorted and brutally honest depictions of naked bodies, and are reflective of what label

has been assigned, and their response to them.  Using an unrealistic palette to portray

flesh, one is left with the feeling of bruised, stained and broken.