Lauren Carly Shaw

Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, USA

Artist statement

I am interested in unpacking the female human body and investigating the collective unconscious that has created this false exemplar. My work reinterprets physical elements from the human form, animals, inanimate objects, and synthetic materials. Using cast replications or constructed likenesses of the body in conjunction with other relatable objects and materials, I am able to manipulate the appearance or context of the human. I make reference to conditions such as scale, space, ​and environment to create surreal and detached archetypes of the body. My sculptures and installations range from fictionalized or hypothetical versions of the human form to manipulated prosthesis. Each work addresses feelings of detachment, transformation, evolution, mortality, and femininity. The works allude to mythology, fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and children's stories in an effort to connect deeply with the adult viewers unconscious manifestations of those classic narratives. Seemingly floating, climbing up walls and floors, confronting the viewer, or interacting through digital media—these works appear to exist in an abject and bizarre alternate universe somewhere between birth and collapse. I use a combination of synthetic and natural materials in the creation of the work. By employing a wide range of media such as fur, hair, yarn, resin, plaster, silicone, cardboard, latex, and digital animation in nontraditional ways, I am able to create work that challenges the viewers understanding...

Artwork