Wainscott, NY – In its fourth iteration, Tripoli Gallery’s Artist-in-Residency is delighted to feature Brooklyn based artist Lauren West for spring 2023. West is a painter who creates worlds that are familiar and crave to be entered. There is an energetic pull that is psychologically approachable but physically implausible. A graduate of the New York Academy of Art, West honed an incredible skill for representational rendering.
For Down Here, her upcoming exhibition at the gallery post-Residency, the artist is making and will exhibit a series of paintings, many of which posits the viewer from the perspective of laying on the ground. In these paintings, we confront vast landscapes that stretch conceptually beyond the surface. One such work is Brief Moon (2023), where a mass of doves witnessed from below, fly amongst spears thrust towards the sky. The symbol of the dove is as weighted as it is light and airy. Here, there is a central dove, who looks down towards us, in between the spears. The artist shared that the work is a call for peace and focuses on the moments after a war —literal and figurative— has ended. Through the challenging wars that so many are experiencing globally, hope, life, and love are on the horizon. She strives to find beauty in challenges. Another painting with a similar composition is Blue Sighting (2023). Set in a forest or leafy field, a dove wing peeks or flutters across the upper right side of the canvas. There is a silent connectivity to West’s work. One can image that the dove in Blue Sightingmay have been part of the feathered group from Brief Moon. The leafy green atmosphere is lush, and compared to the cluster of spears, feels safe.
West has delved into places that seem to be comfortable, but uncertain. For the upcoming exhibition, she is making oil paintings on canvas while also exploring mixed media on plywood, for some unexpected new work. Her attention to detail nearly delves into magic realism, because in some instances the life she portrays is very different from the one we live. Moving through simultaneous narratives that extend through this new body of work, she starts with sketches and then works intuitively. Taking us through the depths of hell (war) to expansive and infinities skies, Down Here promises to be grounding, and a space where all of her wars have ended and the good news is, she triumphed.
~Katy Diamond Hamer | 
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