Lara Shecter

I have always been making something.

Who Am I?

A straightforward question, but like for most people, it has many answers. I am an artist, a photographer, a designer. I am a mother, a wife, a good friend. I am a homebody, an optimist, a lover of life. And sometimes, I am just a total mess.

For more than 25 years, I have been learning, experimenting, and evolving in my creative field. I have worked in design, marketing, and photography, all while continuously pushing myself to refine my craft and define my artistic voice. From my earliest childhood memories, I was always making something: LEGO towers, sewing Barbie outfits, sculpting with FIMO clay, glueing googly-eyes onto anything and everything, always doodling, and endlessly experimenting in the kitchen (often with disastrous results).

At 17, a backpacking trip across Europe became my gateway to the world's art masters. The trip was a whirlwind of museums, historic buildings, and monumental sculptures. The sheer volume of visual stimuli was overwhelming, but certain moments remain vivid. The first time I stood before a Salvador Dalí painting, the way he distorted reality, blending the conscious and subconscious, made my own sense of time feel as warped as one of his melting clock faces. I was instantly captivated by how art transforms the familiar into the surreal and communicates complex ideas in unexpected ways. I have never forgotten that feeling. Seeing something familiar made suddenly, completely strange.

The Journey

Years of obsessing over the perfect font, the right line weight, the exact shade of a colour as a graphic designer has deeply influenced my artistic approach. One of my design heroes, Tom Eckersley, is a master of visual economy. His minimalist compositions, often created through collage, distill intricate concepts into strikingly simple forms. His ability to strip an image down to its essence is something I continually strive for.

Closer to home, the great Canadian landscape painter E.J. Hughes pulled me somewhere else entirely. While designing a series of books about his work, I came to understand how even the most realistic art tells an abstract story, one shaped as much by the artist's vision as by the viewer's interpretation.

Now & Then

My images blend realism, graphic precision, and storytelling with a sense of déjà vu. Living in Vancouver, surrounded by the striking contrasts of British Columbia's natural beauty and urban landscapes, continually fuels my imagination and shapes the way I see and interpret the world.

I am drawn to the tension between people and the environments we create. The lone figure in the harbour. The dog running free on an empty beach. The father and son at the water's edge. We are always alone together, and I find that endlessly worth painting.