ARTIST STATEMENT
I relate to the canvas by composing landscapes of irrealities. Rooted in emotional ties, and transposed by interchanging the concepts of design, I attempt to create a meaningful composition for the eye. The purpose being that the project becomes a story, and the story is told in an abstract, yet emotional manner. Each story of the irreal is given a sense of realism by my use of abstraction.
I use abstraction to create an image. The character of the project, urban but organic, becomes a playground for representation, suggesting its theme. The placement of each element changes the entirety of the project. From my experience, character, obvious or underlying, embodies the vision, circumstance, or situation within. I express this dialogue of character with images, not words.
I superimpose images that the eye can distill, complete, reinvent, and/or canonize by using the image to explain what is seen as a kind of narrative.
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but having new eyes.” –Marcel Proust
Meaning is found through imagery and/or other conceptual devices adding to the work. The environment of the image is telling. It helps define what is in front of you.
With each project, my ideas grow. Conceptually, there are many intertwining ways in which these images can be connected. My work is an exploration of such a journey, a journey that is ongoing and reinvents itself through constant change.
My work has an amorphous form and function; encompasses an evocative use of light, shape, and form; and, each composition is different depending on the project and the message. I visually identify with a space and its components through the relationship of the project to its entirety. My projects embrace the mundane, the intellectual experience, and the passions of my life.
Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Teresa works primarily in three genres, including, digital printing, paints geometric abstractions, and portraiture on wood panels.
During her career as an artist, she has exhibited at Bergamot Station in galleries: Secant/Sulkin and Beyond the Lines Gallery. She has also exhibited at Gallery 825, Hale Arts, LACDA, Lark Gallery, MOLAAA, TAG Gallery, and Wallspace LA. She has received awards in shows/publications, including Circle Quarterly Art Review Magazine, LA Municipal Art Gallery, MD Art Gallery, Mujeres al Pincel y la Lente, Phantom Galleries, West Hollywood Pop-up Gallery, and VIVA Gallery. She has been represented/affiliated with Hale Arts, LAAA.org, and Wallspace LA. Online she is represented/affiliated with Artist.com, Bslog.com, Fineartamerica.com, and Saatchi.com.
Teresa currently lives and works in California.
California State University at Northridge, Northridge, CA, Bachelor of Arts in Art, Field of Study: Printmaking.
California Art Institute, Westlake, CA, Courses in Art.
REVIEWS
2013
TERESA LAKIER -- "Vibrant color underscores the high energy of eccentric minimalist forms" ---Peter Frank, Juror of "Finding your Roots" Lark Galleries.
2014
TERESA LAKIER--"From Agnes Martin to Chuck Close, It reminds me of a lot of things, but it looks like nothing I've ever seen before."---Peter Frank, Juror of "Yes" Lark Galleries.
2015
TERESA LAKIER-- "It’s easy to imagine painter Teresa Lakier saying something like, “the journey is the destination,” with absolute conviction. In both the geometric abstractions of recent years and the more representational, symbol-rich, and semiotic mixed media work of recent months, Lakier activates the emotional frisson of awkward, in-between places. Her complex yet nuanced works shift between line and color, creation and erasure, surface and meaning, and perhaps most importantly, between comfort and uncertainty."----Shana Nys Dambrot, Critic Of "Mix Em Up"
AWARDS
"Yes," M.D. Art Gallery, Lark Galleries, Los Angeles, CA. September 20 - October 18, 2014. "Squared 3," and "Squared Diamond," Honorable Mention. Juror Peter Frank.
