watercolor painting of rhinoceros and other wildlife

Growing Pains

Laura Ball, 2010, giclee print, edition of 50, 22 x 30 inches, © 2010, courtesy of David B. Smith Gallery and the artist

Laura Ball

In her intricate watercolor paintings, Laura Ball portrays a colorful tangle of creatures that weave their way into our consciousness. She charts a course through our dreams and memories to environmental values long neglected. As she leads us through visions of intertwined beings, Ball projects the passion and concern of a loving steward. She reminds us that our ward — the primal, natural world — is an interconnected whole more valuable than the sum of its parts, and uses materials (watercolors and graphite) that are as ephemeral and unpredictable as nature itself. In these works, Ball is not offering a simple celebration of the animal kingdom. She is exploring the relationship between humans and our fellow creatures and highlighting tensions and recurring failures in our stewardship of nature. In a series of works from 2008 and 2009, Ball depicts humans, adorned with animal masks, riding astride wild animals, as if in a carousel. She alludes to a shared journey in these works, but it is a journey in which the animals, at the wrong end of a power struggle, seem unlikely to control their own fate.  Similarly, in a series of “Mandala” paintings, Ball weaves images of endangered and extinct species into looping forms, representing a cyclical process of human failure and self-evaluation. She invites us to meditate on the beauty and frailty of our fellow creatures and to ponder the hidden flaws within ourselves that threaten their survival. Ball shepherds us toward accountability in a powerful series of works entitled, “Endlings,” in which the last remaining members of an animal species live out the loneliest moments of a life on Earth. When experiencing Laura Ball’s work, we try to lose ourselves in the beauty and harmony of her paintings. But as we return to consciousness, the whispers of reality remind us of the plight of our fellow creatures and the role we play in their endangerment. Will these luminous creatures emerge from the dreamscape to find viable and sustainable habitats? Or will their only refuge lie in the shadows of our collective memory?  

Explore the Gallery

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inkblot in the form of insect with wolf profiles in negative space
image of mountain with reflection in lake
fist that grows into a tree
watercolor painting of wildlife woven together

Lonesome George

Laura Ball, 2014, watercolor and graphite on paper
30 x 22.5 inches, © 2014, courtesy of Morgan Lehman Gallery and the artist

watercolor painting of wildlife woven together in shape of rhinoceros

Nola

Laura Ball, 2014, watercolor and graphite on paper
52 x 42 inches, © 2014, courtesy of Morgan Lehman Gallery and the artist

watercolor painting of wildlife woven together

Benjamin

Laura Ball, 2014, watercolor and graphite on paper
30 x 22 inches, © 2014, courtesy of Morgan Lehman Gallery and the artist

watercolor painting of wildlife and trees

Tree of Life

Laura Ball, 2011, watercolor and graphite on paper, 32.5 x 52 inches, © 2011, courtesy of the artist

watercolor painting of wildlife woven together

Fire Mandala

Laura Ball, 2013, watercolor on paper
16 x 20 inches, © 2013, courtesy of Morgan Lehman Gallery and the artist

watercolor painting of wildlife woven together in shape of trees

Phoenix

Laura Ball, 2014, watercolor and graphite on paper
52 x 42 inches, © 2014, courtesy of Morgan Lehman Gallery and the artist

watercolor painting of elephant, other wildlife and trees

Into The Trees

Laura Ball, 2012, watercolor and graphite on paper, 32 x 52 inches, © 2012, courtesy of David B. Smith Gallery and the artist

watercolor of person in tiger mask riding rhinoceros

Untitled (Rhino)

Laura Ball, 2010, watercolor and graphite on paper
16 x 20 inches, © 2010, courtesy of the artist

watercolor of person in giraffe mask riding antelope

Push Me Pull You

Laura Ball, 2009, watercolor and graphite on paper
16 x 20 inches, © 2009, courtesy of the artist

watercolor of person in monkey mask with orangutan

Untitled (Orangutan)

Laura Ball, 2010, watercolor and graphite on paper
9 x 12 inches, © 2010, courtesy of the artist

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