MUNTHE ART MONDAY:
LAURA JESSIE LOIS

Please introduce yourself and tell us about what you do.

I’m a Brisbane-based contemporary figurative artist. My work is largely centred around memory, nostalgia and everyday Australian life; beach holidays, summer, people in the sun, and those ordinary moments that become strangely significant when you look back on them. I work primarily in acrylic, building my paintings slowly through small marks and layers, with a strong focus on colour, light and composition.

Laura is wearing our OBEY PANTS and TUXA TOP.

Can you name some other female artists that inspire you and explain why?

I really love the work of Australian artists Sally Anderson and Laura Jones. I’m drawn to their confident use of colour and the way their paintings feel personal and emotionally rich without needing to explain everything to the viewer. More broadly, I’m inspired by female artists who draw from their own lived experience and find significance in memory, relationships and everyday life.

Laura is wearing our VAPLOI TOP.

What would you like people to notice in your artwork?

I’d love people to notice the feeling before they notice the technique. My paintings are often bright, sunlit and nostalgic, but I think there’s a little bit of longing within nostalgia too; you’re remembering something beautiful partly because you know that moment couldn’t last forever. I hope the work reminds people of their own memories: a childhood beach holiday, an old chair, a particular summer, or simply the feeling of being warm and completely unhurried.

Could you explain more about how being a woman has affected your career?

Being a woman, and particularly becoming a mother, has definitely shaped both my career and what I’m interested in painting. It has made me much more conscious of how quickly different stages of life pass, and how precious very ordinary moments can become in hindsight. Practically, balancing motherhood with a creative practice has also made me incredibly intentional with the time I have to paint.

Laura is wearing our TUXA TOP.

What has been the most challenging aspect of being a woman in the arts?

Probably protecting the time and mental space required to make art, particularly alongside family life. Painting requires more than just the hours spent physically making the work; it needs space to think, experiment and develop ideas. I’ve had to become comfortable with the fact that a creative career doesn’t always need to follow a perfectly linear path, and that different seasons of life can shape the work in different ways.