doris_narrative

Doris Laughton
South Mountain Studio • South Mountain Road
New City, NY 10956 • 845.598.971(3)

ARTIST STATEMENT:

My obsession with Splats…water and their mutations.

A Splat is often the result of an ordinary kitchen spill. It is exploded, extroverted energy.
A Dented Circle is a clear alteration of perfection, an equal introverted implosion. We
encounter many such events of a physical nature frequently throughout our everyday lives.
All my organic forms derive from an obsessional study of water, space, energy
and innate sexuality.

Water, a basic necessity for life as we know, as well as my muse in terms of its space and the
forces that shape it. My forms are deconstructed and reconstructed time and again in mediums,
from the solidity of stone to the illusionary appearance of pattern and color through video light.

Their sizes vary from macro to micro. They are carved, wired, cemented, molded, plasticized,
painted, printed, photographed and videoed, creating new interpretations with each technique.

Procreation another driving life-force, is also a large component of these artworks. They are
neither perverse nor pornographic, but they do have an undeniable anthropomorphic sensuality,
which appeals to our basic tactile delight in their all-powerful grace of the curved line, fecundity,
pregnancy and fullness expressed-to-excess with fleshy folds obesity (Bulbe). In the face of
angst-ridden, gore-driven sensationalism, there is nothing more compelling than cuddly sensuality.
Cartoon-like, these sculptures assume the roles of fantasy super-heroes, readily accessible to all
generations and intellectual levels.

Conversely, there is a deadly seriousness, in contrast to their onomatopoetic and humorous-
visual pleasures:
Splats, Dented Circles, Egg Whites (shape of a bedpan), articulate the mental and psychological
zings imposed on our consciousness -- from joyous to traumatic news events, wrenching
emotional and political trauma, advertisers’ reckless efforts to dance our desires down the
marketing aisles, even intrusive cell-phone ringing. We’re now another century older, and are
once again in a cultural revolution, overwhelmed and swollen to the bursting point with images
and sounds, from instantaneous electronic information and rapidly changing digital technology.
Looking at it differently, the Splat could be an asterisk, a marker, an unanticipated exception or
just a nagging reminder.

After a typical New York City life and art education, an immersion in European cultures for many
years and now 12 years of living in heartland America, I have consciously chosen to employ in
my work our commercial tendency to “Disney-fy.” That is, by making our harsh realities
temptingly digestible in order to deliver the message. Feeling overwhelmed, and helpless to
make changes, to keep up with technology, feelings of alienation and fears of destroying the
delicate balance of the planet, much of our contemporary culture often retreats into fantasy.
However, like mythical characters, Splats and my other forms relentlessly remind us of our
basic humanity, our biological frailties and our optimistic doggedness to continue the human race.

My work embodies compellingly neutral organic forms: Splats consist of seven penises and seven
vaginas;
Dented Circle, the deep curve of a hip; Beads, a suckling breast; Bone (from Praying Mantis),
the rolling landscape of buttocks; and Bulbe, the extra flesh of over consumption. These visual
metaphors are not human, yet they are far from inanimate. Perhaps they will be our genetically
engineered future.

Through them I seek to work out the aesthetic relationships between rigor, freedom and play, in
the face of our always-uncertain futures.

None of these Splatterings of our consciousness can easily be wiped clean with a sponge.


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Internationally and nationally shown, after recent solo shows in Denver, I have concluded a
hugely successful show in Chicago and a PBS television interview, along with the airing of
my new video, An Amniotic Odyssey, Part 3, from The Life Cycle Series.

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“Say Splat out loud and it sounds silly, like a bath gone awry: look at one (or sneak a stroke of the marble), and it’s as serious as it can be. Top show of 2003.”
Mary Voelz, Chandler, Art Critic, Rocky Mountain News.

“Few area artists can match Laughton’s ability to work in such a diversity of media.”
Kyle MacMillan, Critic at Large, Denver Post.

“Laughton gives viewers a lot to look at and even more to think about in her thoroughly unexpected gift for contemporary sculpture…a fresh and welcome take on the medium. Best Multimedia Artist of 2004.”
Michael Paglia, Art Critic, Westword.

“Take a look at these art works and feel your smile. Wring your hands of all your art history observations. Life is instead very short. Unbridled enjoyment.”
Jerry Allen Gilmore, Museum Manager, Arvada Center for the Arts & Humanities.

“You could be peering at a Splat through a telescope or a microscope; they’re deceptive. Spreading and replicating, Splats are infectious. Don’t be surprised if you start seeing Splats everywhere.”
Paula Morris, Schaeffer Fellow, Iowa Writer’s Workshop, Iowa University.

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www.dorislaughton.com • art@dorislaughton.com

Doris Laughton

South Mountain Studio • South Mountain Road
New City, NY 10956 • 845.598.971(3)