Lauren Portada

BIO

Lauren Portada currently lives and works in NY and NJ. She has exhibited nationally and internationally in New York, Chicago, L.A., India and Norway. She was one of ten founding members of the artist-run collective Regina Rex located in Brooklyn and Manhattan from 2010-2018. She held residencies in India (Fulbright), Svalbard, Norway, and Vidgelmir Cave, Iceland. Recent shows include Gold Gallery (solo; 2022) Transmitter Gallery, BK (solo; 2019) The Pit, LA (2018) Kristen Lorello, NY (2018) and Trestle, BK (2020).

ARTIST STATEMENT

Portada’s paintings depict an interior; a domestic space with a window view to a vast wilderness beyond. Painterly nods abound, with sly and earnest references to Cezanne, Matisse, and Gauguin. The spaces are rendered with thoughtful accuracy, but little distortions intensify our perception. Passages of paint are interrupted by collaged shapes of painted linen. Shafts of light become opaque. The hot sun beats down. The cat on the table is purring. The relationship of home to wilderness is a reliable engine for narrative, and in each of these paintings Portada offers a container for story, whether projected or decoded. Portada works on both sides of the canvas to slowly conceal and reveal the organic forms of the painting—a meticulous process of building layer upon layer of paint, while simultaneously wiping away the surface, unearthing earlier manifestations of the image. Likewise, canvas and linen are dyed and painted, stained and tarnished and collaged atop the surface to contest with the image below.

Interview with Lauren Portada

Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you became interested in becoming an artist?
When I was about 6 years old, I received a full color pencil set by Caran D’Ache. I think it had about 40 or 50 colors in it. I hadn’t seen a spectrum arrangement like that, available to me and to my fingertips. I used to love running my hand over them, rearranging the colors, creating different groupings or relationships, and then I would painstakingly attempt to put them back into their ‘order’ at the end. The colored shellac of each pencil was so enticing, so mesmerizing – different than looking down onto a box of crayons. Many years later in college I took an organic chemistry class. I was instantly drawn to a similar process of arrangement, of understanding the relationship between materials. This tendency of sorting and arranging has found its way into my current practice of painting—gathering materials, sorting textiles and colors, finding shapes for specific passages in a painting and collaging them onto the surface.

Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you became interested in becoming an artist? Can you tell us about some of your most memorable early influences?

I had a terrible experience when I was younger with Les Demoisselles d’Avignon. I felt repulsed by the work, not the fact that the figures were nude, but the way color was used to describe the figures and background. It was the first time I had these feelings when looking at a work of art. I can remember that a shift occurred in my twenties, going to see that work that I had not anticipated. That which had initially pushed me away drew me in – I sought to understand how work can have dissonance and be confrontational all the while questioning the role of the viewer. My mom’s plant obsession is another force of influence in my work. She is a Cuban immigrant and left in the early 60s with little on her person. Growing up, she often spoke about how she had to leave her precious photos and her record collection. Later in life, what she could do was cultivate lots of plants in the home—she had a knack for bringing the outside in. When I left for college, I remember coming back for a holiday and realizing I couldn’t get out the back door because the plants had taken over. She didn’t deny this—

Where are you currently based and what brought you there? Are there any aspects of this specific location or community that have inspired your work?

I am currently based in NY and NJ. We moved to the suburbs 1.5 years ago and that dislocation and isolation had a huge impact on my work. I love where I live – I have found other recent artists transplants and I feel like my community increased tenfold. I also commute into the city three days a week to teach. This gives me an opportunity to visit museums and galleries on the regular.

What is your studio space like? What makes your space unique to you?

I love my new studio. It’s in our home. We converted the garage and put a glass door on. I hadn’t worked from a home studio in many years, and adjusting to the lack of commute was a little challenging!

What is a typical day like? If you don't have a typical day, what is an ideal day?

Usually, I wake really early in the morning and go for a run. During this time I often think about the studio. Sometimes I think about the Wordle for the day. Often, new ideas come to me so I try to be receptive and make mental notes when ideas emerge. Then I return home, get my kid ready and out the door or myself ready and out the door. If it’s on a day when I teach, I leave the house before people are awake.

When it is a studio day I generally work between 9-3 or 4pm. If I’m lucky, 5pm. While working, I listen to podcasts or have banal shows on in the background that keep me company.

What gets you in a creative groove or flow? Is there anything that interrupts your creative energy?

My work schedule is fairly straightforward – I work two full days in the studio and teach the other three days in the city. Since becoming a mom nearly 8 years ago, and realizing just how precious time is, it doesn’t take me a while to get going. I usually stop and leave at the point when I know what will happen next. I remember reading ‘A Moveable Feast’ by Hemingway many years ago and he talked about this in relation to his process of writing – enabling you to start up again the next day so as to enter a working state quicker. This really works for me. I am most productive by way of making in the mornings and like to process and look and think a bit later in the afternoon. I rarely work at night because I wake up usually around 5am…

How do you maintain momentum in your practice?

Momentum for me comes from routine. I’ve started traveling again and while this adds to my understanding of the world and invigorates me, it often throws me out of my routine and derails my momentum. I have found that sketching while away is a great way to remain engaged in a physical way to what is happening in the studio. It’s also super nice to just sit back and look at the sky and feed some chickens though, too. I recently read ‘Daybook’ by Anne Truitt. In it she discusses the constant battle between the artist brain and the mother brain. I can relate to this – often the less practical artist brain wants to take over and have control over all my time, while the mother brain makes it possible for our lives to operate smoothly. It’s a give and take.

What medium/media are you working in right now? What draws you to this particular material or method?

I’m both a painter and an archeologist. When I enter my studio, I immediately start to excavate through the scraps of materials on the floor, shards of collage matter cut away from a previous paintings. This same found piece of collage material is now the perfect shape that must be used in this exact spot over here in this new painting! It’s a negotiation of form and color and shape and trying to find what goes where. These discarded pieces from previous paintings become important ruptures or moments of impasse in the next painting. When I think back to my early influences, and the way organization has always played a role in how I understand the world around me, I see why collage had become incorporated into my current paintings. The collage allows me to layer another system of seeing and understanding atop the painting, to both contend with what is underneath and exemplify it. Collage directly challenges how we see and relate to the idea being presented and I like that I can create visual dissonance or a moment or articulation when attaching collage to the surface.

Can you walk us through your overall process in making your current work? Does drawing play a role in your process? What is exciting about your process currently?

For me I have always been drawn to plants. Surely influenced by my mom, and her desire to create something known around her after leaving Cuba. Recently, after I moving to NJ I turned yet again to my immediate surroundings articulated by an exterior facing window –

I wanted to bring the outside in, as a way of orienting myself in my new space. Other objects started to appear as well; a bowl, tulips, the counter, the napkin, the newspaper.

Do you pursue any collaborations, projects, or careers in addition to your studio practice? If so, can you tell us more about those projects, and are there connections between your studio practice and these endeavors?

I no longer pursue any collaborations or outside projects, and that’s because for nearly ten years I was highly involved in the organizing and maintenance of the artist run gallery, Regina Rex. It started off as something manageable needing not more than a few bucks a month and beer for an opening. We had an abundance of ideas for programing and wanted more than anything to present underrepresented artists. It was great. I made a lot of friends. And then it was time to focus on my own practice.

Have you had any epiphanies recently that have changed the course of your work or caused you to shift directions? Do you have any tips or advice that someone has shared with you that you have found particularly helpful?

Working every day. It can be hard. Lots of things get in the way. When my daughter was first born, I stopped making work. I saw other artists with children posting on Instagram work they could make while their kid was asleep. I wanted to scream.

Since then, I have found a way to strike (somewhat) of a balance that works for me and my family. The artist brain always wants more.

Can you share some of your recent influences? Are there specific works—from visual art, literature, film, or music—that are important to you?

I saw the Miyoko Ito show at Matthew Marks and it was super exciting. Her surfaces! The details down to the studs on the sides are breath-taking. There is a great sense of touch in these paintings. Artists I’m currently smitten with that are painting their immediate surroundings or have a strong sense of their subject matter are: Hayley Barker, Bella Foster, Agnes Pelton, Hilma af Klint, Georgia O’Keeffe and Laura Owens.

Do you have any tips or advice that someone has shared with you that you have found particularly helpful?

Find a way to work every day. Whether that means you are physically making something or looking at something, thinking about your work; it is crucial to integrate this into your everyday. This means you’ll have to take risks and fail sometimes. But that’s ok! Lots to mine in those bits.

What are you working on in the studio right now? What’s coming up next for you?

I was invited to participate in the Liquitex residency. They provide a studio and a stipend to spend on their products. They encourage experimentation with their products, and you can have direct access to the manufacturers to ask after products. So far, I’m three days in and loving it!

To find out more about Lauren Portada check out her Instagram and website.