Kendall Laurent is an emerging painter and multidisciplinary artist currently living and working in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. After graduating from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities in 2019 with a Bachelors of Arts degree in Fine Art and a Minor in Psychology, she became a resident at the Casket Arts Building in the heart of Minneapolis’ Northeast Arts District in 2020. Kendall has shown work in both solo exhibitions and numerous prestigious juried group shows in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area and throughout the midwest, including Thomson Reuters Art Gallery at the MSP International Airport, the DeVos Art Museum in Marquette, Michigan, and the McCord Gallery in Palos Park, Illinois. Over the past two years, Kendall has participated in public art gatherings including the Downtown Minneapolis Street Art Festival, the Museum of Wisconsin Art’s Annual Chalk Fest, and Richfield Minnesota’s Annual Penn Festival, where she created a collaborative community chalk mural with festival attendees. She also works as Lead Production Manager at Arts District Imageworks.
Artist Statement
I create visual artwork concerned with examining uncertainty of self through romanticized aesthetics. In my multi-layered, curious practice, I’m inspired by slow, sometimes painful moments of reckoning where concrete authenticity and truth, especially in terms of identity, become ambiguous and loose. My process of making is variable and diverse, ranging from traditional realistic oil painting to experimental mixed media. Saturated, punchy color is important in my work, bringing emphasis to the dream-like spaces depicted or highlighting intense contrast.
In my work, state of mind teeters on the knife edge, visually existing in the liminal where this element of closeness creates a doubling. My work emphasizes the dual self, and explores the conflict of the mind which we all face in our lives; an existential question of identity, who we think we are, and who we yearn to become. Moments of emotion can be seen on the placid, dreamy yet awestruck expressions reflecting this inner doubling moment of turmoil, raw desire, or utter bliss. Knowing the truth of who we are is irresistible and terrifying. Referencing my own experience with identity dysphoria, painting allows me to investigate how a person’s physical and mental presence in the world is malleable and fragile.
My current body of work brings together paintings with opposed distinctions in both color palette and emotional feeling. Lush, vibrant environments in blues contrast saturated, intensely lit depictions in red calling into question the relationship between opposites in color, emotion, and identity. The tension found between these paintings is not lost on me. My work pursues contrast, my body feels peril, and my brain seeks beauty all at the same time.