about
Laria is from the United States and her upbringing was bi-coastal with a move every two years. She comes from a bunch of pretty good artists; in fact, four generations on both sides.
Her father says “she is an enigma wrapped inside an enigma.”
This self-taught artist, with red tinted glasses, is often seen on the street taking images of aging walls, organic sidewalks, dirty puddles and cracks in the road.
“For my palette I do walk-abouts , there is always something utterly fascinating to capture and incorporate into a painting”
For the last decade, she has been using digital devices to paint in pieces of original images and turn them into paintings. Her digital art is a photo art montage; a kind of blended collage or invisible assemblage of bits and pieces of images.
“I’m an anti-digital, digital painter that appropriates our aging and natural world, doing my best to get rid of the cold digital look”
Even with her figurative pieces such as the John Coltrane portrait, she is using photo textures like bark, a dirt path and a green leaf.
She says, "its a tortured way to draw because it takes so long to make a line or layer the correct color, but in the end, I believe it creates a new look."
Laria went to University California Los Angeles-World Arts & Culture and was admitted as an Alumni Arts Scholar. Her artwork has been purchased by Google, Microsoft, Warner Media, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Slack Technologies, Chicago O’Hare Airport VIP suite, Woodlands Resort, Park Avenue Hotel and many more.
She has been recognized by Light & Composition Magazine as the “top 100 photographers of 2014” and awarded by Eden Arts-UK, Momentum Images of Dance-CT, ArtSlant and Project 30k.
Laria has done portraits of celebrities such as: Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire), Reno Wilson (Good Girls), Jaimie Alexander (Blindspot), Rekha Sharma (Battlestar Galactica & Star Trek) and Mallika Sherawat (Murder, The Myth).
Her work has been exhibited at Linus Gallery, 1860 Gallery, Groovworx Gallery, Whole 9 Gallery in Los Angeles, Gallery Violet in London. Laria also curated many of her own exhibits / poetry / music / dance events in her loft - City of Angels Headshots -Los Angeles, CA.
Currently, ArtLifting in Boston represents 70 of her pieces.
She is especially interested in ideas expounded by American philosopher, Ken Wilber’s “Integral Theory.
“I am fascinated by the art of perception, nascent ideas and nature’s artistic unfoldment.”
The central column seen in a lot of her paintings is becoming her signature style,
“I actually keep trying to get away from this column but it keeps drawing me back. For me, its about humanity’s eros-like creative drive to evolve and the power of this forward movement. It’s also personal and mirrors my own willpower to endure chronic illness.”
Laria has been battling debilitating pain for decades; Transverse Myelitis (demyelination-spinal cord injury), daily migraine, Fibromyalgia and many other painful and mysterious syndromes. She has sought treatments all over the world, had four surgeries and has been hospitalized over eight months.
“Losing everything and completely and utterly stopping turned out to be a great catalyst.”
After many years of living in isolation in India due to her illness, she relocated to Europe and worked on a large Paris street series (see photography menu). Due to multiple drug allergies, she has only recently has been able to manage the pain.
“Every day is a battle when you have chronic pain. I am very grateful for my early obsession with meditation. This enabled me to survive the Kafkaesque medical maze of long-term illness.”
Life looks different after being bedridden in the dark for long periods.
“When you emerge from a dark cave, everything is sparkling with color and life and I couldn't do normal photography anymore.”
In 2010, she turned to experimental abstracts and created a grand scale, abstract collection that took five long years. It’s called "Despite the Pain" - the evolution of the imagery grows in complexity each year and parallels the migration of the Monarch butterfly and her own journey. By moving with her camera, creating "earth swabs" to form a tiered, multi-layered collection that forms "one universal snapshot." (see statement for more details).
In 2012, she switched to painting with digital devices. Laria started with self-portraits in order to reveal the invisible pain and then added abstract photo assemblage paintings.
"It connects dots in a world that I cannot always connect in my own life and the abstract medium provides a portal to an alternate reality that is comforting and empowering.”
She lives with her supportive husband, James and golden retriever in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and is aspiring towards painting on canvas regularly.
Laria says, “I am done with living in the dark, hello world!”
*If you want read about Laria's family of artists, actors and performers see "family" tab at the bottom of the menu.