Lauren Kelley will discuss
the process of stop-animation she uses to activate an array of protagonists,
embodied by Barbie-style dolls. Flight attendants, medical assistants and
food-servers, they enact the passing soap operas of everyday life, with edgy wit and
a sharp sense of social critique. Kelley mines vernacular contexts—flirtations at
the fast food counter, squabbles among flight attendants—to probe into common
conflicts of race, gender, and class. Kelley, based in Houston, incorporates
dialogue from overheard conversations, creating documentary-like sound landscapes
for her scripted narratives. Animating an array of black characters, she poignantly
brings to life a large cast of dolls to find resonance in the petty conflicts of the
mundane.
Kelley is just completing a year-long residency at the Studio Museum of Harlem. She
is also a recipient of the Altoids Award in 2008. She received an MFA from the
School of Art Institute of Chicago and has studied at the Skowhegan School of
Painting and Sculpture, in Skowhegan, Maine and is currently a resident artist in
the CORE Program, Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Kelley is included in the collection
of the Artist Pension Trust.
Moscow-born, New York-based curator Yulia Tikhonova graduated from the Center for
Curatorial Studies, Bard College, NY.
New York City, NY; NYC