Artist Statement
A beautiful and attractive aspect of anatomy is that it's universal. Our anatomical design unifies us as humans. I am interested in depicting the human body not just as a complex image, but as a cathartic experience that creates conversation and connection around beauty, pain, healing, acceptance, and the transformative power of art.
My anatomical and botanical artwork evolved as my own therapy to process chronic physical pain. Using stippling techniques with pencil, mixing acrylic paint, India ink, and pastels, I create large-scale technical drawings on paper and pressed kaolin Claybord.
With a history of drawing reproductive anatomy, my voice and intention with my work shifted in 2024 after Roe v. Wade was overturned (June 2022). And while anatomy may be universal, discrimination and control over certain groups of people is not felt by all. The disparities among gender, race, sexuality, and reproductive rights were topics I couldn't ignore as a modern day creator.
My current mixed media portrait series titled "Girls, Girls, Them" - a tongue in cheek nod to sexual exploitation, gender discrimination, and standing up for reproductive rights - includes finished paintings "Valerie" and "Vanessa."
This series will include eight female, trans and non-binary portraits varying in ethnicity, sexuality, and culture. Each one will hold space for self-expression, inclusivity, equality, and highlight individuality through their own pairings of reproductive system sunglasses, botanical elements based on origin, culture, color or composition, and subliminal elements that society uses to create hyper-sexualized ideas of others.
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Artist Bio
Laine Swanson is a Minnesota-based contemporary artist specializing in anatomical and botanical mixed media paintings. Since she can remember, it has been her childhood dream to be a professional artist, as her grandfather was before her.
Throughout her artistic career, Laine has contemplated time, structure and form. Today, combining delicacy and boldness, her art is inspired by her own chronic pain alongside her values of empathy, inclusivity, reproductive freedom, and the transformative power of art.
She attended Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota and completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a Studio Art major and Art History minor (2009).
In 2008, Laine spent a semester studying and interning in New York City through a program called NYCAMS (New York Center for Art and Media Studies). This was a very pivotal stage in her artistic career where she received some very harsh, patriarchal feedback as a young artist. This experience helped transform her skills and inspired her first reproductive system drawings to highlight her choice, her body, and her voice through art.
It wasn't until 2019 that Laine revisited her technical talents depicting anatomy. She was diagnosed with scoliosis and multiple issues with her spine and pelvis. In order to process her now chronic pain she turned to her artwork, using it as an invitation to simultaneously portray a longing for what used to be and acceptance of what is.
While viewers have both physical and emotional responses to her work, she invites questions about the nature of existence, oftentimes creating a meditative space for reflection on life, death and creating appreciation for our bodies. Her art has fostered genuine connections with her patrons and within communities around issues of gender, identity, and the human experience.
Laine has since garnered recognition from the medical community for her anatomical accuracy and technical precision. Laine has garnered recognition from the medical community for her anatomical accuracy and technical precision, but it's her detail that encourages the audience to look past the obvious. Transcending her subject matter, her work questions the nature of existence, oftentimes creating a meditative space for reflection on life, death, and the human experience. Within each piece Laine leaves a part of herself, using her art to simultaneously invoke a longing for what used to be and acceptance of what is, while striving to maintain a positive mind-body connection.
Her work has fostered genuine human connection between herself, her patrons, and within communities around the Twin Cities and beyond. She has had the privilege to collaborate with individuals, doctors, and businesses for custom anatomical artwork, with several garnering multiple pieces and/or collections of her work. In 2022, the HOM Group Real Estate Agency sponsored her solo gallery show and opening at Ambiente Gallerie in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
As her work progresses, Laine hopes to continue to use her voice and platform to continue to highlight her values, stand against gender discrimination, inequality, and support reproductive freedom and foster human connection through art.
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