Works by Louise Pennebaker act as a meditation on the duality that exists between the communal need for order and social agreements, and the inevitable need to test and reject the same principles that are holding that community together. Two things can be true at once: we need rules and we need to break rules. 

Making From Breaking includes layered collages and oil paintings. The cowgirl is the muse of this body of work, and from the artist’s perspective, embodies a fully realized feminine and a fully realized masculine. She is not “either/or”, but is “both/and” and acts as the messenger of the artist’s thesis: two things can be true at once.

This series draws inspiration from postmodern techniques of appropriation and deconstruction to reflect the confusing and disjointed cultural discourse we are currently experiencing. While the work does allude to an apocalyptic moment, it also is whimsical and has a sense of humor, using playful table-scapes with unexpected movement, and familiar western scenes that arouse the collective mythology of “being Texan”. In breaking, you can feel a sense of hope, a sense of fun. Making From Breaking does not condone or condemn order or disorder, but reminds us to question and pay attention to what we are making, while we are breaking.