Lauren C. Clark

In my artwork, I often find favorable to work in an intertwining theme of humanity and nature. In todays postmodern world, it can be hard to find a place that humanity and technology has not touched. To me, it seems that people sometimes find themselves so preoccupied with their own lives that they start to disconnect themselves consciously or subconsciously from the natural world around them.

In ancient societies, there were often mythologies centered around the combination of the human form and other individual aspects of the natural world. Centaurs, dryads, satyrs and mermaids appeared in folklore. Whether or not they intended to, these creatures reflected a connection between the human world and the natural one. These creatures appear in this body of work as a way for me to reflect, in my own way, on the continued human/nature connection. Alone, human or nature characteristics each held their own distinct advantages, but also their own disadvantages. However, when the characteristics of man and beast, or woman and tree, came together, the result is a superior mixture. A dryad girl could finally escape her unending suitors; sphinx's riddle was more tricky and unsolvable than any human's.

These paintings attemp...