Mary Laucks: Contemporary Abstract Painter

Hard Edge Gallery

Hard Edge Series

Chromatic Weave

Chromatic Weave (I - VIII) is a playful study in texture and colour and optical illusion. What happens at the straight edges between two colours? These paintings have many layers of paint, media and textures, and they originated from different underlying grids. All except #7 originated from square grids, #5 was based on a Fibonacci series grid. Areas were taped and painted using a variety of scrapers and ceramic tools.

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Flying Figments

Flying Figments I and II were painted using similar techniques to the "Chromatic Weave" series, except these two paintings started from an underlying "scratch" painting. The under-painting was made using a "scratching" tool to move one colour of paint over the top of a prepared painted surface. When the base colour and the second colour are discordant colours, in this case, red-orange and blue-green, interesting optical effects can be seen - the colours seem to "neutralize" each other. This underlying scratch grid makes the structure of the painting more whimsical than the square grids.

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New Havana

In the series "New Havana I-V" I use classical linear perspective, but with a twist - I juxtapose large areas of intense color to investigate how colour can indicate depth. The idea for this series came from a visual experience I had during a trip to Cuba. In the restored part of Old Havana there are many narrow alleyways that recede to a vanishing point of sky. The walls are painted in yellows and lime greens with bright trim and the colour reflections alter the hues on the opposite walls. The five-painting series is a riff on this experience.

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Moonbridge double sided image by Mary Laucks

Large Scale

These are large scale wood panels painted on both sides, meant to be hung suspended from the ceiling so that they can be walked around. The sides match, so as they are turned, the image on one side changes continuously into the image on the other side.

Visit the Large Scale Gallery