Lauren Davies is a San Francisco-based artist working in range of mixed media projects that explore our often-troubled relationship to the natural world. Much of her work is based on the childhood experience of attending painting classes in a natural history museum. Davies' installations explore the ironic artifice found in many museum dioramas coupled with the folksy presentations of small town historical interpretive centers. Labor-intensive "do it yourself" replicas of wildlife and geological elements are carefully constructed from wildly inappropriate materials. These decidedly abject imitations are presented in a formal manner suggesting the distanced sense of suspended belief engendered by many educational displays. Other recent projects have ranged from recreated scenes of destructive fires and debris to the absurdity of correspondence course taxidermy studies and pedigreed dog breeding. Curatorial oversight of a vast collection of lint has been an ongoing project for over ten years. The unifying element found in these eclectic projects is an interest in exploring obscure subject matter and imagery, coupled with an obsessive use of sad sack materials and an underlying dark humor.
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