A Parallel Planets piece by Unknown
Parallel Planets presents Lauren Frances Evans
in Parts of the Whole
Story by Nicole Lane
Mentioned: the grotesque, the repulsive, and the beautiful
* * *
We’ve all seen paintings and we’ve all seen sculptures but I don’t think many of us have seen anything like this.
I met Lauren a few years ago at an artist residency in Greensboro, North Carolina called, Elsewhere. I was the productions intern at the time and as I was wandering to the back of the building to check out the garden I stumbled upon tons and tons of baby doll heads. Yes, baby doll heads. Now, Elsewhere isn’t your typical artist residency--there’s a baby doll tornado in the attic as well as a baby doll fort in one of the very back rooms. So, finding heads of former play toys really isn’t THAT strange in a place that previously functioned as a thrift store. However, what was even more incredible was the girl behind the glue gun--Lauren Frances Evans. Her white rimmed glasses balanced on her nose as she looked up smiling at everyone that walked by. Her happiness and her spark were prominent in comparison to her quirky material choice. I was immediately obsessed with her work. Revolting, lumpish and incredibly engrossing, Lauren was creating an installation made from flesh colored eggcrate foam and doll parts.
Presently, Lauren is continuing her mission of pushing the boundaries in our environment, either with collage or with sculptural installations. Her material still remains fleshy, hairy and gooey--something that draws me back to her work time and time again. The push and pull between the exterior and interior, dermis and the core, are exemplified repeatedly in Lauren’s 2D and 3D pieces.
Her motivation stems from the “desire to fill voids” and the inclusion of joining materials as seen in her sculptural work. As I view these 3D sculptures, I notice gaping fissures and pockets that are filled with materials from some other kind than its own--a jigsaw of flesh and plasm. The mismatched materials serve as the rebirth of this new entity, this new reality created from various individual parts. Eyelashes, skin and hair are combined to create a casting which exists not only in Lauren’s world, but now it exists in ours.
Similar to her 3D pieces, Lauren’s collages include brown, pink, tan and red pigmentations which imitate glossy, crisp skin. Her collages from 2014, entitled “Decreation”, are layered images which spiral into a circular, hypnotic, udder-like shape. Coercing me to look a bit closer through the mesmeric pattern of these pieces is similar to the compulsion that I feel when viewing her 3D work. Her collages appear like a blueprint while the sculptural installations are a microcosm--a little world beyond our reality, something that possibly exists in the farther unknown.
Currently, Lauren Frances Evans is living and working in Maryland. As always, I’m excited to see what else she creates, whether it involves hog intestines, chewing gum or hair extensions, I’m game.
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