Lauren Rice

Region: South

Website: http://www.lauren-rice.com

City / State: Richmond, VA

My paintings are intricate systems of display that house arrangements of various studio artifacts such as scraps, found materials, and pieces of my children’s discarded drawings. Many elements are of lowly origins, massproduced remnants that are resuscitated within my paintings. Over the course of developing a painting, small, seemingly insignificant moments accumulate to form larger patterns. Intricate cutouts, paired with disrupted patterns and layered, gestural marks, create an unsettling tension. Disguised Xs and Os indicate hugs and kisses, but also uncertainty.

I intend for my paintings to uphold a sense of mystery and unpredictability. The repeated shapes and patterns are often on the verge of collapse. Nodding to textiles, as well as the nuanced history of abstract painting, I am interested in the pleasure of ordering—finding joy through creating patterns and assigning significance to odd items. Gardening, astrology, and geology are of particular interest, as are the ways cultures have historically kept track of time, through rituals, calendars, mark making, and writing.