I want viewers to experience my paintings from the position of some kind of non-human deity (or like a doctor examining an X-ray) that is able to see beyond the horizon, peer through walls of buildings into private spaces, and even see through human bodies giving sight to the micro-cosmoses of cells, veins, bones and organs. I find beauty in that. –Laura Footes 

It’s not surprising Laura Footes’ concept of being omniscient gravitates her towards thoughts of doctors; she’s seen her share to maintain a chronic illness that began in childhood. This familiarity has bred a keen awareness of her own form, both inside and out, and also gifted her knowledge of how we all work. In Footes’ dreamlike paintings, she presents a cast of beautiful, ghost-like figures rendered flowing through time instead of bound to a single moment. Some of these vestiges are pulled from life– family and close friends– and others are dreamt in fantasy while convalescing at home.

Footes’ already hyperactive imagination awakens even further during these moments, creating a vivid, almost hallucinatory, mindset where even the abstracted shapes of people moving behind curtains in a flat across the street is enough of a creative spark to launch her into complex imagined narratives about the human lives around her. In this state, she is the all-seeing, all-knowing, ever-present viewer, and when she is able to be  back in the studio, these scenes quickly flood onto canvases and paper from memory.

With everything laid bare for her audience, the uncomfortable moments, the daily rituals, and even our internal bodily systems, Laura Footes is able to share a unique and empathetic understanding of the complex nature of life and existence for us all. And through art, she demonstrates that we can turn our obstacles into inspiration if we choose. 

Laura Footes (b. 1991 Birmingham, United Kingdom) holds background training in Modern Languages and Painting from University of Birmingham, The Sorbonne and The Royal Drawing School, and she was a resident at The Art Students League in New York.  She now resides in the seaside town of Margate, on England’s southeast coast, where she is part of Tracey Emin’s TKE Studios program. Somewhere Else is her debut exhibition with the gallery and her first-ever presentation in the United States.