Profile Photo

Lauren Jade Szabo

  • 781 Hamilton Pkwy, Novato, CA 94949, USA
  • Studio E

About The Artist

Artist Statement

My paintings are composed of environments that are in the process of being reclaimed by nature. Using the languages of image and text, my work often utilizes and recontextualizes advertising techniques. A central theme in my work is the investigation of the relationship between painting, propaganda, and the American West. This relationship has deep historical and contemporary significance and is a thread that I continue to follow in my practice.

I am inspecting the shift of the western landscape through painting and what has been lost through human corruption of natural space and technological advancement. My subjects are always in a transformative state and exist at the discretion of the elements. Figures may be present in the works, and even if absent they have left their trace in the environment.

In my work, I am questioning idealized beauty though romanticizing the cycles of life, death, decay, deconstruction, and rebirth. I elevate often overlooked locations and cultural relics into icons and subjects of contemplation. My intention is to stimulate dialogue about our societal priorities and examine current social, economic, political, and environmental issues. Through my practice, I reconsider the way that humans interact with the environment and each other as our hybridized landscape progresses.

Biography

Lauren Jade Szabo is a Los Angeles born artist and educator who lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. She graduated with a BFA in Illustration from California College of the Arts with distinction, and received an MFA Fellowship from San Francisco Art Institute for graduate study in Painting, completed in 2018. She is a 2016 / 2022 Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant recipient and received a Cadogan award for her graduate work in 2017. Her work has been exhibited internationally and locally including the De Young Museum and SFMOMA Artists Gallery, and is in private collections in Europe, South Africa, and the United States.

During her 2022 residency at MarinMOCA, Szabo developed a body of work that continues to explore the human condition in relation to the natural world through the lens of the landscape of the American West, and what is at stake through industrial and technological advancement. Focusing on the issue of health, Szabo is currently observing the relationship between mental, physical, public, and environmental health, and believes that we are being called to attention to heal ourselves while we heal our planet. Research is an ongoing engagement to guide the content of the work which focuses on the intersection of science and eco-spirituality and considers homeostasis on a micro and macro scale. Szabo’s residency culminated in a solo exhibition at MarinMOCA from November 12 – December 23, 2022.

She will be having her second solo exhibition with the museum in July 2024.

Art Medium(s)

Oil Paint, Prints and Printmaking, Mixed Media, Clothing

Studio Information

Building Name

Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Artist Studio, 2022 Artist in Residence

Studio Or Unit Number

Studio E

Special Location Or Visiting Instructions

Feel free to call or text 818 730 3677 with any access issue.

Contact Information

Artist Full Name
Contact Email Address
Phone

818 730 3677

Exhibitions & Press

Group Exhibitions

Selected Exhibitions

2024 Solo Exhibition, Second Floor Gallery, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato

“In Flux” SFAI Alumni Exhibition, Museum of Northern California Art, Chico

“For the Love of…”, group show, 2358MRKT Gallery, San Francisco

2023 The de Young Open, de Young Museum, San Francisco

ArtFWD, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art

International Poetry Film Festival, Los Angeles, Official Selection, “Of Water”

2022 Solo Exhibition, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art

CCA Illustration Faculty and Alumni Exhibition, Hubbell Street Galleries

2021 SFAI 150, Spirit of Disruption, Exhibition, Walter and McBean Galleries

“Three Turns” Exhibition, The Tower, San Francisco Art Institute

2020 The de Young Open, The de Young Museum

“Left Coast”, Juried Exhibition by Ken Harman Hashimoto, MarinMOCA

2019-2020 “Fresh Focus”, SFMOMA Artists Gallery

“Seriously Weird”, CCA Biennial Faculty and Alumni Exhibition

“4 Waves: 40 Performances for the Hole”, SOMArts Cultural Center

“Content Matters”, Juried Exhibition by Jack Fischer, MarinMOCA

SFMOMA Women’s History Month Exhibit, TPG Global

“Planned Obsolescence”, Natalie and James Thompson Art Gallery, SJSU

Group Show, Transmission Gallery

Publications

2020 ABC 7 News Bay Area, “Artists color San Francisco Presidio field hospital with powerful images of healing during COVID-19 pandemic”

Artist to Watch: Lauren Szabo, Fine Art Today

2019 Taking Stock of Our Cities and Towns, Fine Art Connoisseur

2018 Three to Watch, Fine Art Connoisseur

Awards

2022 Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant

2022 MarinMOCA Artist in Residence

2020 Certificate of Honor, City and County of San Francisco

2018 Top 100 Award, Circle Foundation for the Arts

2017 Cadogan Contemporary Art Scholarship, San Francisco Foundation

2016 Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant

MFA Fellowship Award, San Francisco Art Institute

Award of Excellence, Creative Quarterly: The Journal of Art and Design, New York

Education

Description

2016-2018 MFA Painting Fellow, San Francisco Art Institute

2010 BFA Illustration with distinction, California College of the Arts, San Francisco

Groups

MOS GALLERY

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