LAURA ROSS-PAUL
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THE NEW GOLD STANDARD
LAURA ROSS-PAUL
THE NEW GOLD STANDARD
Navigating Rough Waters In Conversation: Linda Tesner and Laura Ross-Paul (excerpt from Miracle Works/LT: Curator-Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at Portland State University) LT: You are painting your newest series, “The New Gold Standard”, during the unprecedented time of a global pandemic amid American social and political unrest. How have these current events, this moment in history, affected your work? LRP: Although I typically draw from a live model, and often in group sessions, during the shutdown I’ve turned to old magazines, my own photos, books, magazines, and clothing catalogs for “The New Gold Standard”. I take a head from here, a body or body part from there, a background from wherever, and put them all together to represent a figure I identify with, no matter the body type. My hope is that everyone viewing this work will personally identify with the femaleness of the figure, either as a representation of themselves or of someone they know.
The impetus for this series is to depict women from all over the world who are unified in two-breasted femaleness. By using a layering technique-painting the figure naked first, then adding clothes, then wiping through the oil to reveal two breasts- my intention is to convey the possibility of using the most breast-conserving treatment for breast cancer. “Gold Standard” is the term physicians use to describe the treatment with the best statistical outcome. Women want to use cryoablation (freezing) to save their breast if they know about it. Through my artwork, I want to help alert them to this option. “The New Gold Standard” expresses my hope to save their breast for women everywhere. LT: In looking at these different bodies of work, I am struck by your fearlessness in using new and sometimes non-traditional materials. LRP: Each series represents an opportunity for me to try out a new medium, or new ways of using a medium. As I become older and become more adept at painting, my inspiration comes from technical challenges. I’ve been lucky enough to be an early paint tester for Gamblin’s artist colors, and count Gamblin product developer Martha Bergman as a good friend. Martha often encourages me to explore different materials and products. These can take years to conquer, and [the New Gold Standard] resulted from such novel explorations.
Blue Earrings, 2020, wax/resin/oil/on board, 20 x 16 in.,
Red Sari, 2020, inks/wax/resin/oil/ on board, 20 x 16 in.
“It’s time conservation entered into the breast cancer conversation.” - Peter Littrup, MD, Radiologist
Pink Scarf, i2020, nks/wax/resin/oil/ on board, 20 x 16 in.
“If Cryoablation is so good why haven’t I heard about it?” This is the most asked question when I tell women that I saved my breast and likely got an immunity by using it to treat my breast cancer.” Laura Ross-Paul
Blue Dress, 2020, nks/wax/resin/oil/ on board, 20 x 16 in.,
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Red Skirt, 2020i, nks/wax/resin/oil/ on board, 20 x 16 in.
Red Flower, 2020, inks/wax/resin/oil/ on board, 20 x 16 in.
Stripe Code, 2020 ,inks/wax/resin/oil/ on board, 20 x 16 in.
“Breast tumor cryoablation is a minimally invasive procedure that is a substitute for surgery. This office based, single day procedure only requires local anesthesia. Cryoablation substantially reduces the morbidity, psychosocial and cosmetic impact of traditional surgical breast cancer therapy.” Dennis Holmes, MD, FACS, Breast Surgeon, FROST Trial Principal Investigator, CRYOABLATION.COM
Flowered Skirt, 2020, inks/wax/resin/oil/ on board,, 20 x 16 in.
Small Cross , 2020, nks/wax/resin/oil/ on board, 20 x 16i in
Egyptian Skirt, 2020, ink/resin/wax/oil on board, 0 x 16 in.
Big Hat, 2020, ink/resin/wax/oil on board 20 x 16 in.
Chickens, 2020inks/wax/resin/oil/on board, 20 x 16 in.
Big Fur, 2020, inks/wax/resin/oil/ on board, 20 x 16 in.
Black Veil, 2020, inks/wax/resin/oil/ on board, 20 x 16 in.
Blue Tie Dye, 2020, nks/wax/resin/oil/ on board, 20 x 16 in.
Chopsticks, 2020, /wax/resin/oil/ on board, 20 x 16 in.
Water Hose, 2020, inks/wax/resin/oil/on board, 20 x 16 in.
Colorful Coat, 2020, inks/wax/resin/oil/ on board, 20 x 16 in.
Pink Swing, inks/wax/resin/oil/ on board, 20 x 16 in.
Bio Artist, activist, and educator Laura Ross-Paul has been painting professionally for over four decades. During that time she has been represented by nine West-Coast galleries, from Seattle to Laguna Beach, with solo exhibitions at the Art Gym, Marylhurst University, Portland, Oregon; Colburn Gallery, Colorado College, Colorado Springs; Portland Art Museum, Oregon; and important exhibitions at the Arnot Museum, Elmira, New York; Palm Springs Art Museum; Seattle Art Museum; and Tacoma Art Museum, Washington. Her figurative paintings with mystical and psychologically compelling atmospheres are held in private and public collections throughout the United States. Among her many awards, Ross-Paul has received the Bonnie Bronson Visual Arts Fellowship, an Oregon Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship, and the Susan Cooley Gilliom Artist and Teaching Residency in Roseville, California. Her art has been singled out for prizes in regional biennials at the Portland Art Museum, Tacoma Art Museums, and Turtle Bay Museum in Redding, California; featured in the cable TV film Spy (1989); and appears on book covers including fiction by Charles Spaeth (2011) and Barbara Wilson (1993) and poetry by Judith Barrington (2015). For more, Laurarosspaul.com
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