Laurie Fendrich
Artist Statement:
For the past three decades I’ve been making small paintings, a world where color, shape, and composition have to do the heavy lifting without the help of size. My inspiration primarily comes from the painters Juan Gris, Lyubov Popova, Stuart Davis, Charles Sheeler, and Ray Yoshida. I’m also drawn to the flat beauty and simplicity of Sienese painting, and I’m a big fan of Ernie Bushmiller, whose comic strip “Nancy” I loved as a child. My aesthetic sensibility is classical rather than romantic, comic rather than tragic, and my overall outlook on both life and art is staunchly Platonic. Although my finished work appears full of certitude, getting there is anything but. From start to finish I rely on intuition, changing my mind, and continually adjusting shapes and color until I reach the point where I can’t alter anything one iota more without starting over again.
Laurie Fendrich 2025
Artist Biography:
Laurie Fendrich is Professor Emerita of Fine Arts at Hofstra University. She lived and worked in New York for more than four decades before moving in 2020 to Lakeville, CT. A recipient of an NEA grant, two Dora Maar Fellowships, and a 2016 Guggenheim Fellowship, she has had several solo exhibitions both nationally and in New York. Her work has been reviewed in such publications as The New York Times, Artforum, Artnews, Art in America, ARTS Magazine, The New York Sun, The New York Observer and Partisan Review. Her most recent exhibition was in 2023 at Texas Gallery in Houston, TX, and she is represented by Louis Stern Fine Arts in Los Angeles. Her essays reflecting on the role of art and artists in society, as well as short stories about artists, can be found in such publications as The Chronicle of Higher Education and Two Coats of Paint.
AAA:
Member Since: 2018
Vice-President: Jan 2025 to present
Previous Committees: Exhibitions, Publications
