Mourning and Melancholy
In this recent body of work, I have come to think of each one of my clay chimpanzees as an alter ego. They are not just animals, but are meant to embody the current zeitgeist, mirroring these fraught times. My goal was to create work that was raw and emotive, expressing vulnerability.
Background leading up to this work
After fifty years of working exclusively with paint, a three-hour clay workshop in Oaxaca (with a very patient teacher) revealed to me the pleasure of working with clay, The tactile experience was not unlike the feeling of sinking my fingers in soil while gardening, or immersing my hands in a mound of dough to make a piecrust. This newfound love rekindled my connection with the earth and inspired a deeply personal exploration. The earthiness of the clay brought to mind the image of a chimpanzee, an animal that I have felt an empathic response to for many years. They are that species of ape that are our closest living relatives, sharing 98 % of our DNA. Their bodies are a lot like ours, and their facial expressions so relatable.
As a painter my work has always been about my desire to capture a likeness and the feeling of my subjects, always working to achieve a freer and more expressive approach. With the same intent, I have turned to clay creating unembellished portraits of these sentient beings.
Laura Chasman grew up in Brooklyn, New York. She is a graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/Tufts University and Smith College School of Social Work. After living most of her adult life in the Boston area with her artist husband, John Christian Anderson and their son, they now happily reside in Florence, Mass.
Chasman has been exhibiting her work in galleries and institutions for over 40 years. She was a recipient of the Maud Morgan Prize awarded by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which included a solo exhibition; an Artadia Finalist; recipient of a Fellowship in Painting, as well as two Finalist awards in Painting from the Massachusetts Cultural Council; a Fellowship recipient from the Artist Resource Trust. Her portraits have been included in two exhibitions in the National Portrait Gallery. She was a visiting artist at the Addison Gallery of American Art in conjunction with their exhibition “Alice Neel.“ Chasman’s work is in private and public collections including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, New Britain Museum of American Art, Fidelity Investments, Simmons College, Boston Public Library and Smith College Museum of Art.