Laura Roebuck: A Series of Discoveries

August 4 – October 16, 2022

We are honored to present Laura Roebuck: A Series of Discoveries, an exhibition of both large scale and small canvases by San Francisco / Bay Area-based abstract expressionist painter working in oils. Her creative process is informed by her professional and personal experiences in modern dance, psychology, and medicine.

“My art seeks to expand boundaries; it needs space, depth, air, height, and light for exploration.”

Laura Roebuck · Artist Statement

I am a painter. Through intuition and movement, I explore the interplay of color, shape, and texture using palette knives, paintbrushes, and assorted household and construction tools. I make paintings of varying sizes but am especially drawn to making large-scale works.

My process is largely unconscious but coherent. When I begin a painting, it is often without a specific plan, making the evolution of the painting unpredictable. I am guided by what is happening in the moment between myself and the materials based on what I’m taking in visually and sensually from the world. I am fascinated by what the paint does - the way it drips and dries and pools and moves. Knowing that no marks are permanent, a brushstroke might serve as a temporary guide to something that, in the end, is not included. At times I scrape off entire layers; at other times just sections to access what lies beneath. In this way, my paintings evolve, often over months, sometimes over years.

While much of the process is spontaneous, it is disciplined by the emerging structure of the painting as a whole. Each mark leads to the next while suggesting a series of subsequent steps. I place myself in the traditions of abstract expressionist, color field, minimalist, and arte povera painting. In the end, I want to enjoy looking at the painting, but more importantly, it has to feel true.