Laura Hallen

I was a princess for just a brief moment. A moment, between the ages of 7 and 8 when my mother dressed me in a pink tutu. I went along with it because it felt good. I then rejected it as I toughened into my tomboy self. My art is the exploration of the defining moments each child has as they harden into adolescence. I am intrigued by the moment of loss as each girl merges into adulthood, and shatters her idyllic, innocent world. In my work I incorporate the soft and feminine because I did not get to wear pink long enough.
My intentions while developing my work is to explore the things I embraced and rejected as a child, and to eliminate fear in the creative process. I validate myself, I let myself play because that is the spirit of art making and that of a child. These uninhibited thoughts and practices have allowed my work to take an unexpected turn toward silliness and play.
My plexiboxes are “contained explosions” of pom-poms, streamers, gumballs and cotton candy confections. The consistent theme in all of my work is layers, and falls somewhere between painting and sculpture. I am intrigued by what is seen behind the top layer of my creations by pouring pigmented shellac on top of common craft materials, and transform them inside translucent plexiboxes. This technique reveals a “sandwich” like appearance with multiple textures and colors. The most compelling part of my work is not what is on the facing layer, but what is behind, and can be viewed from the side.
Much like how we present ourselves to the world with the importance placed on the exterior, I am curious of what is on inside; dazzling, bound up, complex, fantastic messes each of us contain.