Berkeley-based M. Louise Stanley's work follows in the tradition of narrative painting documenting current and fictitious events using myth and allegory. The human condition, modern day romance and political issues are often explored. Voyeurism, a longing to 'be someplace else’ and a sense of places and events remembered are recurring themes. Her sense of humor is the catalyst and bridge to explore darker, more troubling issues in her work. "During art school in the 1960s I worked in the Rare Book Room at UC Berkeley Library where I had access to the vault!" —Louise Stanley
Consulting the Oracle refers to the ancient Roman practice of soothsaying: of inspired priests and priestesses divining the future from animal entrails, the flight of birds, and sometimes under the influence of narcotic fumes. For Stanley and other artists, the idea of intoxication-aided vision, or epiphany, the appearance of God, prompts her inquiry into the age-old mystery of creativity.
