Laura Lowe
Painting MFA
University of the Arts Helsinki
Graduates: 2023
Specialisms: Painting
My location: Helsinki, Finland
Laura Lowe
First Name: Laura
Last Name: Lowe
University / College: University of the Arts Helsinki
Course / Program: Painting MFA
Graduates: 2023
Specialisms: Painting
My Location: Helsinki, Finland
Website: Click To See Website
About
Laura Lowe (1991, FI) is a Helsinki-based emerging artist pushing the boundaries of colour exploration. She is graduating with a Masters from the Academy of Fine Arts Helsinki (2023), and has a BA in Japan Studies from the University of Leeds, UK (2013). Lowe’s graduation project "the Structural Colour Paintings" exhibited at the MFA degree show ’23, received the prestigious Anita Snellman Award. The alchemical paintings captivated viewers with spectrums of colour borne from wavelengths of light, rather than pigment. As a member of the Bioart Society, Lowe merges art with science and ecology. Her laboratory-based process has earned her residencies in Finland, Berlin, and most recently Japan – where she conducted a two-month trip researching hybrid nature and human interventions in the landscape. She has received several grants including the Academy of Fine Arts, Sasakawa, GJ Ramstedt, and Chujo Watanabe grant. Lowe is currently working on her first public commission following her success in the hotel GLO art competition, where she claimed both first prize and the audience favourite award.
My paintings reflect experiences of change happening in our environment. I am interested in exploring landscapes that change in front of the viewer's eye, using colours like chemical bioindicators that react to temperature or light stimuli. The Structural Colour paintings were instigated by the iridescent oil slick formed by petroleum contamination. The rainbow-like colour of these paintings is created by wavelengths of light, rather than by pigment. Developing this alchemical painting technique demanded a year's worth of research in the laboratory testing various mediums and solvents. These ‘living and dying paintings’ morph in response to light, shadows, and reflections from their environment. They alter their appearance depending on the angle of the observer. Colour fading and bursting into life in a moment of transformation. My work reflects on how nature’s cycle of growth and decay is also ultimately intertwined with human impermanence.
Competitions
