Sleeping Beauty Painting

Lauren Woods draws from art history, religious iconography, and comparative mythology to construct paintings that explore the nature of images and the transformational characteristics of the human form. In 2006 Lauren received her BA in Studio Art from Spring Hill College. She then completed an MFA in Painting from the New York Academy of Art in 2010. Currently, she is an Instructor of Visual Arts at both Spring Hill College and The University of South Alabama. In addition to painting, she also has an extensive background as a classical ballet dancer, and her work is influenced by the ethereal and lyrical aesthetic of the art form. Artist Statement In my current body of work, paintings become a theatrical space to examine notions of gender, sentimentality, desire, and beauty. With tableau-style settings and appropriated death and resurrection imagery, I stage scenes overwrought with artifice to create a delusive vision of whimsical romance. Poetic situations emerge from mixing revered sources of art history and religious iconography with disoriented signs of masculinity and femininity. Remaining vulnerable to interpretation, these images continually oscillate between contradictory states, such as informed innocence and playful seriousness.