Laura Shechter is a still life and cityscape painter and a contemporary realist. Within contemporary realism, Laura consider herself a perceptualist which she defines as being more concerned with usual vision than European painting conventions. She paints a moment of light with all if its visual contradictions. Laura has strong feelings about the objects in her still lifes. The relationships between the objects are formal but at times they have an implied narration. Although Laura's approach tends to be linear and precise, she conveys a beautiful and sensual surface. Laura Shechter is also known for her cityscapes, which are photo-based. Her cityscapes describe one moment of light. Many are organised into landscape space, parallel bands. The forms and space in these paintings are clear with decorative patterns, eg., windows, trees. She is also interested in graffiti. Laura appreciates contemporary architecture, new or renovated that has incorporated rich intense colour in their design. Laura Shechter's drawings are also closely observed with subtle tones built up in a single hatch technique.
Although Laura's still lifes and cityscapes are different genres, they each borrow from the other. Some of her horizontal still lifes are like a sky line, while the spacial relationships in some cityscapes are more related to those of an interior. Some influences are northern Renaissance art, Indian Miniatures, and interactions with other contemporary realists. Her work evolved during the feminist art movement and she has incorporated some of its ideas. Laura's teacher, Ad Rhinehardt, {the father of minimalism} helped her evolve a philosophy of aesthetics. He was also a noted orientalist. She travelled around the world in 1966-67 and the 1970. This experience added complexity to her art work which seems so rooted in western painting tradition, but also includes the aesthetics of the east, notably, India. Laura Shechter's work is in the permanent collections over 40 museums, colleges, and other public collections.
