Lauren Gardiner’s “Blossoming Neurosis” series is based on the school yearbook photo, a
traditional childhood tool used to record our physical progression from year to year. What
these photos fail to show, however, is the cognitive growth we undergo from a developing
baby brain to a more mature and experiencedyoung adult. Here, Lauren has taken
various childhood neuroses and personified them into creatures and parasites that
will
grow and become one with their host, thus forming the personality we encounter today.
Portraits are Lauren’s favorite subject to paint. She loves mug shots, photo- booth pictures, professional family photos and glamour shots of old time movie stars, often wondering what
people are trying to reveal, hide or document through these photos. A photograph’s facade
can be misleading, even when it appears to be perfectly clear, a dichotomy Lauren uses
as a starting point when creating a character’s portrait.
Lauren is a Rhode Island School of Design graduate with an Illustration degree and her own
set of neuroses (and yearbooks) acquired over several continents while moving 10 times in
22 years. She has lived in Los Angeles for the last 8 years and is happy to stay put for a
while amongst the city’s cast of crazies. |
