Lauren Halsey (b. 1987, Los Angeles) is rethinking the possibilities for art, architecture, and community engagement. She produces both standalone artworks and site-specific projects, particularly in the South Central neighborhood of Los Angeles where her family has lived for several generations. Combining found, fabricated, and handmade objects, Halsey’s work maintains a sense of civic urgency and free-flowing imagination, reflecting the lives of the people and places around her and addressing the crucial issues confronting people of color, queer populations, and the working class. Critiques of gentrification and disenfranchisement are accompanied by real-world proposals as well as celebration of on-the-ground aesthetics. Inspired by Afrofuturism and funk, as well as the signs and symbols that populate her local environments, Halsey creates a visionary form of culture that is at once radical and collaborative.
Lauren Halsey has presented solo exhibitions at David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles (2020); Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris (2019); and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2018). She participated in Made In L.A. 2018, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2018), where she was awarded the Mohn Award for artistic excellence. Her work is included in the collections of the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Halsey was the recipient of the 2019 Painter and Sculptors Grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation, New York. A major public monument by the artist is currently in development for construction in South Central Los Angeles. Halsey lives and works in Los Angeles.
Lauren Halsey
Prototype Column For Tha Shaw (RIP The Honorable Ermias Nipsey Hussle Asghedom) I & II, 2019
Hand-carved Glass Fiber Reinforced Gypsum (G.F.R.G.)
each:
162 x 48 x 48 inches
(411.5 x 121.9 x 121.9 cm)
Installation view, Frieze New York 2019
Lauren Halsey
Untitled, 2019
synthetic hair on wood
114 x 54 x 5 inches
(289.6 x 137.2 x 12.7 cm)
Lauren Halsey
Easter at F.A.M.E., 2019
hand-carved gypsum on wood
47 5/8 x 47 5/8 x 1 7/8 inches
(121 x 121 x 4.8 cm)
Lauren Halsey
we still here, there, 2018
mixed media
installation dimensions variable
Installation view, Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles
Lauren Halsey
The Crenshaw District Hieroglyph Project (Prototype Architecture), 2018
gypsum, wood, tape and acrylic
installation dimensions variable
Installation view, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Lauren Halsey
that fuss wuz us, 2018
white cement, carpet, foam, wood, and mixed media
110 x 49 x 49 inches
(284.5 x 121.9 x 121.9 cm)
Lauren Halsey
that fuss wuz us, 2018
white cement, carpet, foam, wood, and mixed media
110 x 49 x 49 inches
(284.5 x 121.9 x 121.9 cm)
Detail view
Lauren Halsey
kingdom splurge (3.7.15.15), 2015
gypsum
22 ft x 6 ft x 10 inches
(670.6 x 182.9 x 25.4 cm)
Installation view, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York
Lauren Halsey
they got lil bit, 2013
mixed media
48 x 96 inches
(121.9 x 243.8 cm)
Lauren Halsey
What If We Owned?, 2012
ink on posterboard
dimensions variable
Lauren Halsey
hustlin too hard, 2011
graphite on newsprint
18 x 24 inches
(45.7 x 61 cm)
Lauren Halsey
gotta get over the hump?, 2010
digital collage
dimensions variable