Photo Credit: Jason Overby
Oscillating at times between abstract portraiture, a kind of en plein air neo-pointillism, and subconscious storytelling, Lauren Luloff's (b. 1980; Dover, NH) compositions marry the artist's diverse inspirations, including the deep and loving bonds of family, the Edenic nature surrounding her studio in Maine, and a history of human design that spans from ancient mosaics and patterned fabric up to contemporary digital reproduction. These themes are translated, pixelated, abstracted, and delineated through the framework of the artist's grids, which play a foundational role in her work.
Employing a similar logic to Agnes Martin or Jennifer Bartlett, Luloff's paintings are not about perfection. Rather, her grids, rendered free-from by the human hand, provide a platform for experimentation and play. They act as a structure in her work that gives a foundation for the sumptuous dance of her painting, and whose malleable rules inspire direction and bend to discovery.
Luloff's practice has always centered around her medium and vehicle for her painting: fabric. The artist's early work, which Roberta Smith described in the New York Times as having "knocked [her] out", involved painting cotton bed sheets with bleach. This technique was central to her practice until a 2015 residency in Cassis, France that coincided with her pregnancy, which made the use of such harsh chemicals hazardous to her unborn son. There, living and working in the natural splendor of Southern France, the artist began dyeing landscapes into silk.
In the years since this residency, silk has become the signature medium of Luloff's practice, painted with a style that has vibrated between figuration and abstraction. In 2021, after almost two decades of living and working in New York, the artist relocated her studio to Maine, which motivated a return to nature and landscape in her compositions in a strikingly beautiful way.
Lauren Luloff (b. 1980; Dover, NH) has presented solo exhibitions in the US and abroad, at SOCO Gallery, Charlotte, NC; Fridman Gallery, New York; Halsey McKay Gallery, East Hampton, NY; Ceysson and Bénétière, Saint Etienne, France; and Annarumma Gallery, Naples, Italy among others. Luloff's work has been presented in notable group exhibitions at The Queens Museum, Queens, NY; Galerie Lelong, New York; CANADA Gallery, New York; Marlborough Gallery, Madrid, Spain, and Brand New Gallery, Milan, Italy among others. The artist has been awarded residencies by Interlude Artists Residency in Hudson, NY; The Bau Institute in Cassis, France; The Macedonia Institute in Chatham, NY; and DNA Residency in Provincetown, MA. Luloff received her MFA from The Milton Avery College of Art, Bard College and her BFA from Pennsylvania State University. The artist lives and works in Maine.