Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Lopez.
Lauren, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
When I was in college, I worked at a wholesale flower shop directly under the most incredible force of life, Sylvia. She knew everything and everyone. Sylvia kept a stack of books at the front desk about flowers with historical and contemporary uses for different arrangements. She began ‘teaching me the flowers,’ as she called it, and I would review the books on my breaks. One of these books talked about floriography, the Victorian language of flowers – a fascinating means of non-verbal communication using different flowers and arrangements to communicate.
Sylvia passed away suddenly and tragically during my second summer at the flower shop before she finished teaching me the flowers. In my work as a professional artist, I’ve continued what she started using floriography to visually convey emotional tones and memories. This led me to delve further into another unexpected form of communication – human space. A space that gains significance to someone becomes a place, laden with meaning and familiarity. These places intertwine with identity, communicating both in memory and when someone is present.
Today, I create installations, photographic prints, and art books, exploring the vastly intricate ways that we remember. I question what this process of remembering looks like, and I use floriography, color theory, and a variety of visual methods to convey my investigation.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I struggled with finding my footing between commercial and fine art. Traditionally, fine art is conceptual and intentional, while commercial work generates immediate appeal. Both are valid and wonderful in their own right, but there is a strong distinction.
I use vibrant colors, sparkle, flowers, balloons, and all manner of stereotypically commercial techniques in my work, which can be polarizing – especially in academic environments. However, my practice is absolutely founded in research and conceptual investigation. I found that I can’t continuously concern myself with a category or fear of other artists’ opinions.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I exhibit in galleries and art spaces nationally. I offer select prints available for sale on my website. All of my work is autobiographical – I use my memories and experiences as a case study to investigate themes of communication, the relationship between place and identity, and the visualization of remembering. My primary medium is photography, but I also work in video and installation. The nature of my research has led me to be incredibly vulnerable and open to anyone who engages with my art, which I find terrifying and exhilarating all at once.
My most recent installation, “I remember in vibrant technicolor brilliance” (2019), featured bright telephones hanging from a fuzzy, sparkly wall. Each phone had a different audio clip from my life, including one where I revealed secrets. Watching people interact with my memories was a fantastic, thrilling experience in spite of my mild terror at being so open and honest for anyone who cared to listen. Quite a few people sought me out to share their own secrets afterwards, which was an incredibly rewarding experience.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I loved to make things! I was obsessed with DIY before DIY was popular. I crocheted blankets, decorated cakes, repurposed thrifted finds, and painted. When I was in the fourth grade, my grandma gave me my first digital camera, and I fell in love. I snapped pictures of everything. My mantra was the cliché but lovely phrase – collect moments, not things.
I was also fascinated by storied objects. My paternal grandmother (I was very blessed in the grandparent department), had a beautifully simple and unique wedding ring. I asked her to tell me about it all the time: how she came to have it, the history of its design, any little moment surrounding her and the ring. It featured gorgeous swirls of silver that I took to doodling in notebooks. Those organic forms are ones that still influence my art today.
At my core, I have always been a creator, a maker – an artist.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.laurenelenalopez.com
- Email: lauren.lopez3@gmail.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/laurenelenastudio/
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