Laura Horrocks is an Australian artist based in Paris, whose work distills nature’s rhythms into color, form, and repetition. With a background in Fine Art, she creates paintings where organic shapes and fluid lines merge, balancing structure with motion. Drawing inspiration from biochemistry and the natural world, she reflects the unseen connections that shape life—from cellular structures to vast ecosystems.
Her compositions blend soft pastels with deeper tones, creating a tension between movement and restraint. Through this interplay, Horrocks explores the delicate balance of order and chaos, presence and impermanence, capturing both the fragility and vitality of nature.
Q: You explore nature’s interconnections through color and repetition. How did this focus develop in your work over time?
A: This focus came about organically from having studied biochemistry and microbiology to learn about this underlying symphony of intercellular signalling, metabolic communication, and deeper chemistry that connects everything from inside our bodies and also externally in the interconnections of the world around us.
Q: Balance is an important element in your art, particularly in how you combine organic shapes and fluid lines. How do you approach creating that balance in each piece?
A: Each piece evolves over time as a kind of visual puzzle where I progressively paint in new forms while at the same time layering out different elements. Each time something is added visually, I work to rebalance the composition further and further until I feel to a degree that it is resolved or have the sense that if I keep adding more layers, it will tip the balance in the wrong way. It’s a kind of visual homeostasis.
Q: "Nightshades" dives into the quiet stillness of the subconscious. What drew you to explore this theme, and how does it connect to your personal perspective on the mind?
A: I’m very interested in the concept of the subconscious, the psyche, and the parts of ourselves that we keep repressed or hidden from the world or even just from ourselves. From studies in neuroanatomy, philosophy, and psychology and with some curiosity for the work of Carl Jung and the concept of the shadow self, I feel as though my personal perspective draws from many influences. A true theory of consciousness is something that remains unknown, but I’m deeply fascinated by the way our minds work, especially our creativity and intuition. I think that accessing parts of our hidden self or, in a way, integrating our whole self for a greater sense of personal peace may be beneficial.
Q: In "Lightness of Being", you merge ideas of both the macro and micro. How do you incorporate these vast and intimate scales into your artwork?
A: Using visual motifs that are semi-abstracted and may refer to the micro—for example, a biological cell—or, on a macro level, a flower or an oyster, is what I find myself repeating in each composition. I feel as though I’m drawing on what I observed under a microscope and mixing it with traditional art motifs such as the flower to connect the two.
Q: Flowers seem to be a recurring symbol in your paintings, often depicted with a sense of fragility. What do flowers represent in your work, and how do you want the viewer to experience them?
A: Flowers are a powerful symbol in art history, and the use of "the still life" is a very traditional painting theme that I’m playing with to explore my own contemporary version. They are a well-used Memento Mori subject from the 17th century, which is employed to remind the viewer of the painting that life is fleeting, temporary, and fragile but very beautiful. In addition, the natural form and lines of any kind of flower lend themselves easily to semi-abstraction, like a natural pairing. This also connects back to themes of symbolism from Carl Jung and the interpretation of motifs or archetypes by our minds. There’s a perceived lightness to floral forms and also a tangible picture of time; the flower that buds, blooms, and then falls away. It signals the power of the moment: taking the time. Awareness and presence.
This becomes a point of consideration for the viewer: Less is more, simple is best, everything is temporary.
Q: Your color palette uses both soft pastels and deeper tones. How do you choose these colors, and what do they convey in your pieces?
A: The choice of palette again is related to contrasts and the play of the macro and micro. In a way, again, it is referencing the things that are hidden deep, such as the subconscious self, or, in another example, the underlying interconnectedness of chemical processes that we can’t see with our eyes. I often feel drawn to using blues to convey depth or the deep unconscious self, and I choose the rest of the palette in softer pastel colours that balance out the composition in a way that I feel is beautiful and interesting.
Q: "Lily Still Life" contrasts energetic brushstrokes with a more structured central figure. How do you navigate the tension between freedom and structure in this piece?
A: I was attempting again to explore contrasts and duality of form in this work, and I wanted to delineate the lily in a vase but keep the freedom of the brushwork to avoid any kind of static composition. This style of contrast was an experimentation of sorts to visually balance the subject in a new way.
Q: Looking forward, are there new ideas or directions you're excited to explore in your art?
A: Continuing on similar themes, I’m excited to evolve the composition into new still-life subjects in addition to flowers. I would like to continue exploring the structured and unstructured layering of elements and see how I might push that further. In art museums, there are many paintings included in the gallery collection or artist retrospectives but are unfinished to a degree where the underlying pencil sketch remains uncovered before it is completely painted in. There’s a kind of beautiful tension between finished and unfinished that draws my eye, even though the artwork is accidentally suspended at this point.