Impressed by the South Central neighborhood of Los Angeles, the place Lauren Halsey’s household has lived for generations, vibrant sculptures and site-specific installations vividly mirror the artist’s group.
At Serpentine South, a large-scale, maximalist exhibition titled emajendat highlights Halsey’s self-described obsession with materials tradition, her curiosity in remixing messages and symbols, and the necessity to confront points that have an effect on individuals of coloration, the queer group, and the working class.
Halsey gathers images, posters, flyers, industrial indicators, and located objects that relate to her communities’ activism, highlighting “a sense of civic urgency and free-flowing imagination,” says David Kordansky Gallery, which co-represents the artist with Gagosian. “Inspired by Afrofuturism and funk, as well as the signs and symbols that populate her local environments, Halsey creates a visionary form of culture that is at once radical and collaborative.”
Previous, current, and future merge within the artists exploration of how idols, structure, historical past, and communication gasoline how we understand identities and society. She attracts on the imagery of historic Egypt, the African diaspora, Black and queer icons, and the visionary design related to funk to assemble a type of ever-evolving archive.
In a monumental rooftop set up titled “the eastside of south central los angeles hieroglyph prototype architecture (I),” Halsey nods to palatial, historic Egyptian structure, inserting the faces of notable Black figures on the columns’ capitals, corresponding to activist Susan Burton and ethnomusicologist Dr. Rachel Eubanks.
Halsey’s eclectic “funkmound” sculptures additionally embody quite a few discovered objects, harboring miniature dioramas and objects that seem as if they’re rising from heaps of cotton sweet. All through emajendat, seemingly countless collages, sculptures, reflections, prismatic coloration, patterns, messages, and textures welcome the viewer into an enthusiastically immersive expertise.
The social aspect of Halsey’s work is amplified by a group middle she based in 2019 known as Summaeverythang, situated adjoining to her studio in South Central. The nonprofit initiative is “dedicated to the empowerment and transcendence of Black and Brown folks socio-politically, economically, intellectually, and artistically.”
emajendat continues via February 23 in Kensington Gardens, London. Plan your go to on the gallery’s web site.
