Laura Messing is an Argentine artist of international career that began developing her visual work in the mid-80s after obtaining her degree as an architect (University of Buenos Aires, 1978).
During the early years of her artistic production she develops sculptural works receiving several awards in ceramics and sculpture, including the Grand Prix d'Honneur in the X National Ceramics Exhibition in 1989. From the 90´s onwards she continues her research under the disciplines of photography and painting, developing her own language with an encyclopedic and conceptual exploration of urban issues. In 2002 she receives the Leonardo Prize in Photography, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires.
That same year she founds the Gallery Isidro Miranda, a project that would continue until 2010 and promoted the work of more than 200 contemporary artists through exhibitions and participation in art fairs. Along with Platt Grupo Impresor Messing organizes the Platt Award in three editions accompanied by a publication.
In 2006 she was guest artist at the IX Biennial of Havana, Cuba and presented in Buenos Aires a solo exhibition of her most recent production, accompanied by the publication La Construcción Social del Espacio, a photo essay with texts by curators Valeria Gonzalez and Julio Sánchez.
Parallel to her development as a visual artist, Messing served as Professor of History of Art and Architecture at the Chair Miguel Asencio, UBA (1978-1979), in 2010 she founded and directed the School of Projects for Artists and since 2000 teaches privately in her workshop in Buenos Aires.
Her solo exhibitions include: De otra naturaleza, Gallery Aire, Buenos Aires (2015); No temas al color, Gallery Holz, Buenos Aires (2014); Laura Messing, Gallery Arte x Arte, Buenos Aires (2013); Laura Messing, Gallery Isidro Miranda, Buenos Aires (2007); XXXI Feria Internacional del Libro, Sala Roberto Arlt, Buenos Aires (2005); Laura Messing, Gallery Isidro Miranda Arte Contemporáneo, Buenos Aires (2003). Group shows: Emplazando Mundos, I Bienal del Sur, Panamá (2012); Fotografía Otras / Otras Fotografías, Photography Biennial, Lima, Peru (2011); About Change, in Latin America and the Caribbean, World Bank, Washington, USA (2011); Perlas del Atlántico, Fundación OSDE, Buenos Aires (2008); Concurso Deloitte de Fotografía Contemporánea, Fundación Deloitte, Buenos Aires (2008); Petrobrás Contest, Buenos Aires Photo, Buenos Aires (2007).She has received numerous awards among which are: Second Prize, Painting Contest Iberoamerican Foundation Aerolíneas Argentinas (2005); Leonardo Prize in Photography, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires (2002); Argentina Photography Prize, International Art Biennial, Buenos Aires (2002); Grand Prix d'Honneur, X National Ceramics Exhibition, Ministry of Culture and Education, Buenos Aires (1989); First Prize Latin American Association of Artists, Malvinas Cultural Center, Buenos Aires (1988); Second Prize, VIII National Ceramics Exhibition, Ministry of Culture and Education, Buenos Aires (1987); Silver Medal, VII National Ceramics Exhibition, Ministry of Culture and Education, Buenos Aires (1985); among others.
Messing has recently published El libro de los bosques, digital photo essay that includes her latest works and projects on forests and natural reserves in Argentina. Her work is part of important private and public collections in Argentina and abroad.
About the work of Laura Messing
The recent artistic production of Laura Messing focuses on the context of nature, more particularly the forests and reserves of Argentina. With a symbolist approach, Messing develops a convincing poetic through the language of painting and photography where it is possible to see the variations and movements of nature in its essential state as well as its relationship with the artist. These works are related to the perspective of the thinker Theodore of Wyzewa, who distinguishes two types of Symbolist paintings; in the work of Messing is possible to see that poetry of painting, carefree of real forms that combines the contours and tones in pure fantasy, producing souls, instead of the real view of things as consequence of associations between images and feelings. A world of vivid emotions as stated by the modernist critic himself.
Forests from the South, Misiones, Entre Rios, Cordoba and Delta regions are some of the natural areas that Laura Messing investigates and categorizes as a travel log and merges, through her art, with the effects of overpopulation, pollution of images and sounds of the city we inhabit.
The process of her work focuses on experimentation with different media such as painting, paper cut outs and three-dimensional objects. She begins composing the work from freehand and digital sketches and conceives the pieces as individual representative systems that comprise multiple botanical species where it is possible to imagine the scent, humidity and silence that these spaces emanate. These elements are in constant dialogue with textures, distortions and chromaticism of the city itself creating gestures that become images that manage to capture a fleeting moment of beauty and restore a lost unity: nature man / material spirit.
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