Lauren Blankstein

Statement

I am an interdisciplinary artist inspired by dwellings, urban spaces and how they are inhabited. The objects I construct hint at what I might see, experience or imagine. I am interested in the relationship between humanity and the built environment and how each influences the other. The childhood home, hidden spaces, interior/exterior and the body in space are themes I investigate. I want the objects I make to be autonomous entities that play a part in their creation by way of chance. I choose materials and ways of working that force me to relinquish some control so I am not attached to an end result. The dialogue I construct with my materials attempts to make the point that poetic connections can be found everywhere.

GlogauAIR Project

Body Puzzles investigates the body, not as identity but as material and a vessel for transformation. Using close-up images of my own body as source material, I construct layered collages where anatomy dissolves into biomorphic shapes and cosmic landscapes. This practice of deconstructing and reconstructing mirrors the cyclical rhythms of our surroundings, whether urban or natural, constantly undergoing rebirth and renewal. My goal for this residency is to move from exploration to realization. Through ongoing research and experimentation, that includes researching Chema Alvargonzalez, I will refine the work, focusing on its materiality, scale, orientation, and installation.

CV Summary

EDUCATION

• New York School of the Arts, Master in studio program
• New York School of the Arts, Intensive Arts Program
• Cooper Union College, NY
• NYU, certificate program
• University of Western Ontario, 1989- 1993, London Ontario, Bachelor of Arts, Western Literature and Civilization

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

• 2024
  • Bau Gallery, The Shape of Things, Beacon NY
  • The Hub Center for the Arts, Masters in studio exhibition, NY
• 2023
  • LIC Arts Space, To darken lightly, NYC
  • Site: Brooklyn, Shape/form, NY
  • The HUB Center for the Arts, (In)Tensive Exhibition, NYC
  • The HUB Center for the Arts, Painting and Drawing, NYC
• 2022
  • Gallery OneTwentyEight, NYC
  • The HUB Center for the Arts, New York, NY, Cyanotypes, Prints, Photography
  • Lawrence Gallery, NYC
  • The HUB Center for the Arts, New York, NY
  • The HUB Center for the Arts, Practices in sculpture, New York, NY
  • The HUB Center for the Arts, Summer Arts Intensives, New York, NY
• 2021
  • The HUB Center for the Arts, Summer Arts Intensives, NYC
• 2020
  • El Barrio Art Space, Women Celebrate Women, NYC
• 2016
  • 24th Annual 92Y Art Center Juried Student Exhibition
• 2015
  • Collyer’s Mansion, Brooklyn NY, Daylight all night long
  • Ceres Gallery, New York, NY, Exposure
• 2014
  • Williamsburg Art and Historical Center, Over the edge: paperworks
  • Unbound, Brooklyn NY
  • Greenpoint Gallery, Brooklyn NY
  • Ceres Gallery, Exposure, NYC

Gallery