Shauna La

Shauna La was born in 1983
in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Although she has studied at Columbia College in
Chicago and Academy of Art University in San Francisco, she considers herself a
self-taught painter. She lived in New Orleans until Hurricane Katrina, after
which she traveled throughout the US as an RF engineer. Having been painting in
her hotel rooms during her travels, she decided to focus on painting full time
in 2006.

Shauna La explores the relationships
between lines and emotion, color and thought in her dynamic acrylic and mixed
media works. Her works range from small canvases with muted color impassioned
with crimson texture and stark charcoal lines to extremely large canvases
enriched with brilliant texture and depth. In her most recent work, she creates
compelling and beautiful glimpses into not only her perception of reality but
her reaction to it.

“For me, existence is about creation, exploration, and especially attuning myself to energies and frequencies that are not immediately obvious. My process involves observing physical characteristics such as colors, sensations, tastes, and smells as well as unconventional occurrences like lucid dreams or meditation. All of this blends together into a fantastic maelstrom that inspires me to create. I use paint and collage elements to build rough surfaces full of texture, adding and stripping away layers using palette knives to reveal prior layers underneath, sometimes enriching the amalgam with cement, and finishing with charcoal and paint. The whitewashed textured surfaces represent our limited perceptions of reality, while the charcoal and lines are like cryptic messages we sometimes receive. The multiple layers beneath surfaces of my paintings symbolize things we might only see or feel in fleeting glimpses, and if we so choose, are available for us to reflect on and contemplate.”