HALSEY MCKAY GALLERY

Lauren Luloff, Backwards Question, 2023, Brooklyn, NY

Halsey McKay presents Backwards Question, new dye on silk paintings by Lauren Luloff on view November 19 – December 31 at HMGP in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Luloff is directly influenced by the landscape around her, sourcing colors and forms from her immediate surroundings as well as the history of art and design.  She creates a conversation between form and content, where narrative and figural elements give way to a tile-like grid, ultimately creating a playful contrast between chaos and order. Free from the constraints of geometric perfection, Luloff’s grided imagery forms a mosaic of experimentation and en-plein air representation.

Several of the works on view are inspired by music. Luloff’s Two Hands paintings draw from a piano concert she saw in her hometown of Lubec, Maine. Transfixed with the way the pianist’s hands played such disparate sounds, she noted, ‘one hand was darker, more rhythmic, more static, and the other hand was brighter, more melodious, and clearly the assured leader. I don’t know if it was just his particular way of playing, but it highlighted for me some of the huge differences between parts of oneself or of two counterparts in a relationship: the different tones and cadences we each have and how they complement, contrast and build upon each other.’ The artist began to explore this idea in both abstract imagery and in paintings with two hands going in opposite directions. She was interested in the hands emerging from and becoming part of the background or part of each other, while remaining visually and physically distinct. A third large work in the show, Backwards Question, was used as the cover art for Animal Collective’s 2023 single release, Defeat.

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.