In her recent work, Laura Padgett focuses on the urban areas of the 21 Century, with its inherent assumed separation between private and public space; Collecting snatches, that are combined as apparent fragments into something new.
Laura J. Padgett (*1958 in Cambridge, USA) received her BFA in painting from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. She continued her studies in film and photography with Peter Kubelka and Herbert Schwöbel at the Städelschule from 1983 to1985 and received her MA in Art History and Aesthetics in 1994 from the Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe University, both in Frankfurt am Main.
The artist's photographs and films are often of urban spaces and interiors. Atmospheric density results from the artis's precise composition and formal articulateness. Fragmented and momentary situations correlate with one another as in a story or film-like sequence. The artist selectively introduces text into the imagery, expanding on the Narrative. Since 1990 Laura J. Padgett has exhibited and her films have been screened internationally, for example, Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Bologna, Fotomuseum, Winterthur, Städel Museum, Frankfurt, House of World Cultures, Berlin, Centre Georges Pompidou, Galleries Seitz & Partner in Berlin and Martina Detterer in Frankfurt, Pharos Centre for Contemporary Art, Nicosia and Museum Franz Gertsch, Burgdorf.
In addition to her exhibiting activities, the artist regularly writes on film, art and aesthetic theory and is contributing editor to the scientific journal Frauen und Film. Since 1990 she has taught and lectured at various universites among them Bauhaus-University in Weimar, Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach, Paderborn University and the Hochschule-Rhein-Main in Wiesbaden. Most recently she lectured at the American University of Lebanon while in Beirut on an Artists-Contact grant from the Institue of Foreign Relations (Stuttgart). Laura Padgett lives and works in Frankfurt am Main.
