Lauri Mendenhall - Artist Statement
Using 35 mm film with no digital manipulation or alterations beyond the original shooting of the image, I like to think of my work as present tense visual poems or puns which are composed by focusing on the abstract oddity within the familiar. I am interested in the drama of light and shadow in common settings – how cropping light's tricky interplay with linear surfaces not only defines the mood and palette of a certain physical space, but also can create a quirky new way of seeing something ordinary. The intrigue of natural light thus remains constantly powerful - particularly in how it maneuvers geometric patterns and reflections on water, or against random structures and objects - ultimately tweaking what seems normal into a non-sequitur. Such unexpected moments can alter your view of a landscape, suggest another time and place, or tell a new story with fresh metaphors, similar to the way abstract painting conveys emotional narrative.
Another focus of my work reflects my interest in the fleeting moments of life that reveal its grandest celebrations or foibles in an instant. Sometimes this occurs within a subtle gesture of the human figure - that moment where the content of experience tells a universal tale in a microcosmic way. Thus, in my travels through vastly different regions of the world, I continually seek out mannequins and unusual window displays whose staged vignettes and frozen gestures can suggest humorous double entendres. As magical understudies for real people, mannequins not only reflect how individual cultures define and market the concept of beauty, they also give the viewer permission to role play spontaneously, or to become a voyeur into their own fantasies.