Mara van Laaren (Amsterdam, 1977) finished her study at the Wackers Academy Amsterdam in 2015 under the guidance of Sam Drukker.
Mara van Laaren lives and works in Amsterdam. She finds the subjects of her paintings in the interior of old buildings in Amsterdam. During her study she worked in the secluded Groote Museum of Artis for half a year. Van Laaren, earlier a student in Construction for several years, always measures everything first. She uses this to map the environment and to make sketches that she later on uses for her perspective drawing. She uses this as the base for several paintings with the same subject, in the paintings the drawing remains largely visible. Her paintings of mostly big and imposing, historical spaces are balanced out with her meager and tonal way of painting. With this balance, she seeks silence in het paintings. The impressive precision of perspective in combination with the light incidence makes her work mysterious.