Conversations with Laura Cullen

Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Cullen.

Hi Laura, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in Westport Connecticut from a family of artists. My Grandfather was a talented graphic artist and did work for Pepperidge Farms and Seagrams. He was a strong influence in my growing up. He loved playing opera albums and had an enormous organized home studio where my sister Kathy and I would spend days together drawing with all sorts of professional tools and papers. We had a lot of laughs and made thousands of drawings some my Mother has saved and we certainly tried to get our grandfather to play something else but he sure enjoyed those arias.! Westport is full of creativity and artists. Recently they opened MOCA Westport. My dream was to have a home studio overlooking the Saugatuck River with a dance floor and traveling the world. I didn’t begin painting in oils until I was 36 years old. I enrolled in a class at the Learning Tree and I was incredibly lucky to have the now legendary French artist Rene Amitai as my mentor. I later joined the Los Angeles Art Association and have sold my works to two prominent American art collectors in Beverly Hills and shown internationally namely in Japan at the National Art Center, the Chiba City Museum and the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art. I am represented at the Agathi-Kartalos Gallery in Athens Greece.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
In the early part of my journey, I was struggling on developing my own unique style. I knew it was a process and was coming it just took a lot longer than I expected. Once I learned to be authentic and to paint for myself my world shifted. There comes a moment in each painting. The do or die moment. I usually take a lunch break then.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I choose my color palette very carefully. I try to make paintings that people can stare at for a long time and let their thoughts go. Everyone sees something different in each piece. I love hearing how each piece moves someone in a unique way. I try to create something beautiful because there is enough sadness in the world.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I have also shown at the Loft at Liz’s in Los Angeles, 825 Gallery, etc. currently a FIABCN nomination and my work has received the Gold Award of Excellence at the National Art Center Tokyo Japan I am also a member of IAA/USA and the Artist Council at the Galen Palm Springs and the Los Angeles Art Association.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @laura_cullen_art

Image Credits
Sokratis Alafouzos