Toby Jaxon
Special to The Chief
Sometimes art is purely representational. Deeper levels of meaning in art come when the piece evokes a specific emotion or makes a statement.
Laurel Terlesky loves the process of applying paint to canvas and playing with colour, but her art isn’t just visual appeal — it actively promotes a cause and brings attention to important issues.
Terlesky’s pop-culture portrait series is a sort of narrative campaign for maintaining socio-ecological balance, encompassing energy expenditure, fashion, natural resources and sustainability. Her large, bold paintings ask the question, “Where do we stand in relation to our ‘electrical body politic’? Energy is neither created nor destroyed; it is harnessed, transformed and is increasingly bordered, sold, manipulated, expressed and valued in relation to cultural dependency.”
It is easy to see how fashion, media and the environment have inspired Terlesky, who has a degree in fine arts and also works in motion graphics, web and print design. Her paintings have a graphic playfulness, influenced by contemporary mural, graffiti and alternative comic art. Terlesky affirms, “My [art]work is constantly evolving. Ten years ago I was much focused on breaking areas of a form apart into sections. Now I seem to be still working with that, but in a much more loose style, so what was hard edge is now soft, stitching forms together.”
Terlesky’s exhibit “We Love This Stuff So Much,” features acrylic, aerosol and oil paintings, will be on display April 5 to May 9 at the Library Foyer Gallery.
In this touring exhibition, her creative stimulation is a narrative on energy and power in the common global trend of “going green.” Not timid about using bright, solid colour to emphasize depth, Terlesky uses solid flat colour placement, juxtaposed variations and shaded areas with surreal, mostly feminine, subjects intertwined with images of computer feeds, plugs, cables and cords.
Terlesky’s passions include being outdoors, travelling and the power of connecting with people.
For more about her work, email laurel@laurelterlesky.ca or phone (604) 771-4425.
Terlesky, incidentally, plans to run a workshop at her studio in conjunction with the exhibit. The event, “Recycled Electric — Build Your Own Recycled Electric Accessory,” takes place April 17 from 10 a.m. to noon at Homebase Studio, No. 203 – 37760 Second Ave. The cost is $20. Space is limited and pre-registration is required; email her or phone (604) 898-2525.