jodie lawrence

PRESS RELEASE Contact: Lynn Kearney Exhibition Dates: May 14 - June 18, 2004 Opening Reception: Friday, May 14, 2004 5:30-9:00 p.m.


Jodie Lawrence’s most recent paintings of single men’s bedrooms explore the idea of presence through absence. Her painted interiors hint at their absent male owners, through the suggestion of objects and arrangements. Lawrence clearly has an affinity for these bedrooms and she observes and renders them carefully, searching for a kind of meaning in the ‘restraint’ she sees in the unmade beds and sparse decoration typical of the bachelor pad. She describes her depictions of empty bedrooms as ‘romantic in their realism, a celebration of the single male,’ and as ‘both document and fantasy.’ Lawrence earned her BFA from Ohio State University in 1998, and received her MFA from the Slade School of Fine Art in London in 2000. She has participated in Solo and group shows in Columbus Ohio, London, and the Chicago area since 1996. ________________________________________ This exhibition is partially supported by a City Arts Grant from the City of Chicago, Department of Cultural Affairs and the Illinois Arts Council, from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and from the John R. Houlsby Foundation.