BIO & STATEMENT
Based in Los Angeles, CA
laurieshapiroart@gmail.com
Biography
Based in Los Angeles, CA
Laurie Shapiro is an installation artist and painter based in Los Angeles, California. She was born in Long Island, NY in 1990 and received her BFA from Carnegie Mellon University in 2012. Shapiro also studied abroad at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey in 2011.
Her immersive installations have been commissioned by various institutions including the San Diego Museum of Art, San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, Otherworld, Walter Studios, and Coffee World. Her installation, Flowers Are Not A Crime, commissioned for Weedmaps, has toured the country and appeared at Life Is Beautiful (Las Vegas, 2021), California Vibes (Long Beach, 2022), and the Governors Ball (NYC, 2022).
Shapiro has had two solo shows with Radiant Space Gallery in Los Angeles and has exhibited her work at Mars Gallery in Chicago. She has completed artist residencies at the American Academy in Rome, Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, and the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. Shapiro has also been awarded Artists’ Fellowship Grant, Puffin Foundation Grant, and Center for Cultural Innovation Grant. Her paintings are in public and private collections, including the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles and Bilkent University.
Photograph by April Staso
Statement
My work is a reflection of my spiritual self, heavily influenced by the natural world and the emotions it evokes. My artwork often explores themes of interconnectedness and the mother goddess symbology, using a vibrant palette to represent human feelings. As a mixed media artist, I employ a layering technique that combines painting, screenprinting, sewing, and sculpture to create installations and individual pieces.
To begin my process, I draw inspiration from plant life that I have encountered on my travels, and from the beauty of natural spaces like gardens and trails. These drawings serve as the foundation for my screen-printable stencils, which I then use to create repetitive patterns in my artwork. I then layer on colors using water-based paints, building up the surfaces of my pieces intuitively.
My installations are particularly transformative, creating otherworldly spaces that transport viewers into an imaginative world, like stepping into my mind. These spaces cover entire rooms with a quilt-like aesthetic or Moroccan-inspired tiles, creating a psychedelic womb-like atmosphere. Even the lighting is carefully designed to cast colorful glows through my silkscreened images.
My individual paintings, on the other hand, are informed by my personal experiences and emotions. I draw from both the natural world and the human experience, seeking to represent the interconnectedness in both. I often use photographs of people as reference images, building up layers of repetitive imagery to explore the human connection with nature.
Ultimately, my work is a celebration of the connections that exist between ourselves, each other, and the natural world.