Laura Berger

Laura Berger

BY KATE ZALIZNOCK

Laura Berger is gaining recognition for her compelling pieces that

reflect on human connection and the spirit of adventure. Berger

primarily works in gauche and acrylic, and her paintings feature

an array of figures, often in relation to elemental surroundings.

Based in Chicago, Berger has exhibited both stateside and abroad,

with exhibitions in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, and New

wanting to quit their day jobs and fully devote

themselves to creative work? What are some

lessons you’ve learned as you have built your

professional career?

I’m definitely still figuring this out myself—I don’t think there’s ever an endpoint to figuring it out! But I think practice and persistence are the most important things— never giving up even when you want to, and developing a disciplined practice that involves making work daily is key. Just making as much work as possible (even though much of it will likely be pretty rough) is the only way to continue to learn and improve and refine your own voice. Making sure you’re working from a really honest place is also super important.

Who are some of your favorite emerging

artists?

Oh man, there are so many people to love, not sure how to choose. Robin F. Williams, Jenny Sharaf, Grace Weaver, Alain Biltereyst, Alice Tippit, Cody Hudson, Brent Wadden.... just some first ones that jumped to mind.

What has been your proudest moment so far as

a professional artist?

I think probably when I quit my job and went for it fulltime. It’s been about nine years now—still alive and very grateful for it, phew!

What are some future professional goals?

I would like to continue to improve as an artist and feel less fear and become more efficient.

If you could paint a mural anywhere in the

world, where would it be and why?

Japan! Because I love it there. But honestly about ten other countries came into my head just after that, haha. I’d be happy to paint a mural anywhere. I like going places.

What kind of music do you play in the studio?

Everything, just depends on my mood—ambient, hip hop, world music, maybe some kind of soothing spa-y flute music if I’m really stressed out. I used to try to listen to music with no words when I was working but that’s been changing lately and now I listen to pretty much everything.

your creative development?

Visiting anywhere that’s different from our daily scene is just such a huge gift to creativity. So many new sources of inspiration: new sounds, sights, smells, tastes—it’s all huge for sparking ideas that could have never occurred if you hadn’t gone on the trip. My first trip to Asia was really exciting for me just because it’s so very different in every way which is exciting and great for stretching out the brain. We traveled around Bali and some nearby islands and I was so affected by the way their spiritual practices were just interwoven into everyday life.

The elegantly clean lines of your figures are

somewhat reminiscent of ancient Greek and

Egyptian works; are there any periods, techniques,

or masters you focused on as you shaped the style

of your artwork?

I think those are definitely influences for me but it’s interesting because I never sat down and tried to consciously work in that vein or anything... I think over time we just absorb all of the things that have resonated with us and they all get mixed up with our own experiences and thoughts to create something new when we start to work, kinda like a soup. A delicious soup of things we’ve absorbed filtered out through our own little minds and hands. I haven’t really focused on studying anyone or anything in particular with art, but I do love to travel and I love to visit museums wherever I am and read about artists and their work, so I’m sure all of that has gone into the mix.

With online sales growing steadily as a reliable

income source, what do you see for the future of

the global art market? Do you think the role of

curators, art consultants, and galleries will

significantly change?

It’s such a huge question and I guess I really don’t know the answer to this of course, and it’s great that we have an additional resource in the online market to be able to carve out a living, but I very much hope that we keep having galleries and curators so we can go to look at art with our eyes and so we don’t rid our world of all of these various career paths for people. And I hope we also have bookstores and theaters and cafes where people speak to one another with words. The internet taking over the world really scares me in a lot of ways.

"I think over time we just absorb all of the things that have resonated with us"