About the Artist
Laura Valentino is a visual artist based in Reykjavik, Iceland. She has recently returned to her first love, painting, after many years exploring alternative photographic processes, which she also approached in a painterly way. She draws her inspiration mainly from the power of the Icelandic landscape.
Laura has a BFA degree from Eastern Kentucky University and an MA from the University of California, Berkeley. She is a currently a member of the Association of Icelandic Artists (SÍM) and the Icelandic Printmakers Association (IPA), and was a founding member of the former Iceland Film Photography Association. She served on the studio committee of of IPA for 10 years and taught workshops in the gum bichromate process. She curated an exhibition of analog and alternative photography at Gallery Fold in Reykjavik in 2018. Her work has been shown both locally and abroad.
Since retiring from her job as a UX designer in the fall of 2024, Laura spends her days in her studio at Phenomenon art complex. Expect things to happen.
Artist Statement
My work expresses both the power and vulnerability in my environment.
Working with analog photographic processes is a tactile approach which allows time and space to achieve layers of separation from the subject matter, resulting in an evocative image that reflects the passage of time. I approach photography as I would a painting, building up layers of color and texture as I go along.
In contrast, painting with traditional soft pastels frees me from what a camera might see altogether, allowing me to be even more expressive with portraying the world around me. The shapes seem to create themselves as I apply the intensely pigmented sticks to the painting surface with my own hand — even I'm surprised with what appears before me!
Solo Exhibits
2021: Living 2020, SÍM Gallery, Reykjavík, Iceland.
2019: I Remember the Mountain, Reykjavik Photography Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland.
2019: Listamaður Grafíkvina/Printmaker of the Year, IPA Gallery, Reykjavík, Iceland.
2018: Andlit Jarðar/Earth Portraits, IPA Gallery, Reykjavík, Iceland.
2009: Archetypal Men, IPA Gallery, Reykjavík, Iceland.
Juried & Group Exhibits
2024: Artists at Work, Phenomenon Gallery, Reykjavik, Iceland.
2022-25: Solander 250—Bréf frá Íslandi, Traveling exhibit Iceland/Sweden.
2020: Altered Reality, Lightbox Photographic Gallery, Astoria, Oregon, USA.
2020: Icelandic Printmakers Association 50th Anniversary Show, Nordic House, Reykjavík, Iceland.
2019: I was here, International Pinhole Photography Exhibition, Clifford-Thames Gallery, London, UK.
2019: Greetings from Reykjavik, Galleria Joella, Turku, Finland.
2018: Eitt andartak/One Moment, Gallerí Fold, Reykjavík, Iceland (curator).
2018: Coast to Coast, Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries, Scotland.
2017–2018: Technology & Touch, Traveling exhibit San Francisco, Las Vegas and Reykjavík, USA / Iceland.
2017: Hrævareldar, Gallerí Nordens ljus, Stockholm, Sweden.
2016: Iceland–USA Exchange Show, Manhattan Graphics, NYC, NY, USA.
2015: GraN (Grafik Nordica Triennial), Akureyri Art Museum, Akureyri, Iceland.
2015: AgX—Silver Gelatin Prints, Custom Photo Lab Gallery, Reykjavík, Iceland.
2014: Pushed & Pulled: Iceland Film Photography Association Debut Exhibition, IPA Gallery, Reykjavík, Iceland.
2014: Icelandic Prints, Scandinavian Living Center, West Newton, MA, USA.
2014: Continental Drift: Printmakers Converge, Belmont Gallery of Art, Belmont, MA, USA.