Laura Esbensen

When a psychological or spiritual space is too complicated for linguistic expression, a visual host is as expressive as body language, or non-verbal emotional outbursts. For me, art was about survival long before it was about creative production and influence. It was the only way to communicate, the only way my mental condition was not bigger than my identity or cognitive capacity. Now, I bring my artwork to the table as a communication device. The work becomes as much about the significance the viewer brings to it as it is about the significance I assign. Because my primary interest in art making is about using artwork as an emotional bargaining coin with my viewers, much of the subject matter focuses on mental illness, emotional space, and the psychedelic or metaphysical. I maximize the intensity of my work through a graphic, mixed media style, often with limited colors and bold, black spaces. A project I’m currently working on is a body of work collectively titled “Skeletons,” which focuses on identity development and mental health recovery.