‘A World Beyond Our Own’ - Exploring the Magic Reality of Lauren Alexandra’s Paintings
By Nina Paiva
On August 11 2022, AWS curator Nina Paiva sat down to have a lovely Whatsapp conversation with our newest artist Lauren Alexandra (showing in our latest virtual gallery exhibition) to discuss her work and artist story:
Lauren Alexander (Work)
Photograph provide by Lauren Alexandra
The Artist Workspace Gallery
“When I first started out being serious about being an artist… I wanted this idea of creating another world that I could project myself into”
At the core of her practice, Lauren Alexandra is an obsessive day dreamer with an active imagination. The endless possibilities of new worlds lie at the end of her paintbrush.
Lauren is all smiles. Not only can you see her wonderful, joyful smile, but you can hear it in her voice, and read it through her messages.
Our conversations took place via three different ways and platforms: video call, phone call, WhatsApp messages. Post lock-down, we both seem to have acquired an ease in dealing with technical difficulties and long-distance communication
Lauren’s practice takes on an unique approach to “the mundane” - a term she has coined to refer to ‘the everyday’ (i.e. ordinary objects or scenes in our daily lives that we, as people, take for granted).
Sensing that much of our (the general public’s) attention and time had been overtaken previously by the ‘big’ (yet seemingly meaningless) events in our lives - i.e. ‘the hustle bustle’ of travel, the stress of deadlines, family or friend drama, or a loud and riveting conversation with friends, Lauren decided to turn her attention to the small, overlooked, and ‘forgotten’ moments in our lives.
The moments where no one is watching, moments when we are alone - but not lonely, fleeting moments, unnoticed moments, moments that are taken for granted in the grand scheme of life:
“Why not put the same amount of significance on brushing your hair?”
By putting her own fantastical twist on these everyday, quiet, “mundane” experiences and scenes, Lauren creates a whole new world for viewers to consider and to discover.
Lauren and I speak with ease, despite the technology separating us both. As with most artists, there is always a memory which holds a significant place in his, her or their creative journey. Lauren is no different.
At nine years old, Lauren realised her passion for art. Through her primary school's annual art show, Lauren worked on a mural alongside her classmates, she drew a picture of a dragon to add to this children’s masterpiece.
“It was a core moment in my life where I realised how important art was to me even though I was 9.”
Considering the fantastical essence in Lauren’s work, I wonder if this experience inspired her fascination with tying in folkloric elements into her artwork?
Her creations tell stories which elevate fleeting moments in time — forming full-bodied narratives that echo magical realism.
The colour pallette of these pieces plays a significant part in transforming these mundane moments into more whimsical scenes. Colours that bleed seamlessly across the canvas create a space through which viewers can feel the tingling energy in the artwork. Lauren’s recurring use of windows offers the viewer more insight into the worlds through which these characters reside. A window is not a window, but a portal into another world. A spatula is not a spatula - but an ‘inside joke’ amongst friends transformed into a thought-provoking, artistic, powerful visual metaphor. Her paintbrush is both an extension of herself and her own magic wand:
“The scene and the world don’t just stop at the figures and what is directly in the scene”
Consider and observe the nautical-looking window in New Day that opens up to a fairytale forest. Consider and notice the hidden frogs in Favourite Spatula and the view of the barren desert visible beyond the confines of the kitchen scene. Such elements all contribute to the whimsical feeling that Lauren creates l through her artwork — striving to suggest the possibility of another world that might exist outside of our (the audience’s) reality. As Lauren puts it: “not everything makes sense, but nothing is impossible.”
“I expand on the world that I am creating, the universe that I am depicting in these paintings”
Lauren is a world-builder. She builds and creates worlds, dimensions, and realities. She imagines all of these characters inhabiting the same world: perhaps near, far, or all at the same time.
Similar to people in the real-world, the characters in Lauren’s paintings possess their own internal monologues. Their internal monologues help to narrate and provide a sense of escape from their mundane, everyday lives.
When I asked Lauren what she believes these interpersonal thoughts to be, she leaves it up to me (the curator) to imagine such personal conversations, feelings and emotions resonant in her work, scenes, and characters:
Lauren believes it is not her place to input her own personal interpretations, as she does not want to interfere with my own imaginations.
It’s now our turn as the viewer to stop, take a moment, and contemplate ‘the mundane.’ The narrative seen through Lauren’s brilliant creations is turned over to the viewer. We, the audience, are left to imagine and speculate on the thoughts and feelings of these characters - existing beyond our own physical world and reality.
To view more of Lauren’s work, visit her Artist Page: here
