Artist Profile

Lauren Jade Szabo

Novato, CA

"My paintings are composed of environments that are in the process of being reclaimed by nature. Using the languages of image and text, my work often utilizes and recontextualizes advertising techniques. A central theme in my work is the investigation of the relationship between painting, propaganda, and the American West. This relationship has deep historical and contemporary significance and is a thread that I continue to follow in my practice.

I am inspecting the shift of the western landscape through painting and what has been lost through human corruption of natural space and technological advancement. My subjects are always in a transformative state and exist at the discretion of the elements. Figures may be present in the works, and even if absent they have left their trace in the environment.

In my work, I am questioning idealized beauty though romanticizing the cycles of life, death, decay, deconstruction, and rebirth. I elevate often overlooked locations and cultural relics into icons and subjects of contemplation. My intention is to stimulate dialogue about our societal priorities and examine current social, economic, political, and environmental issues. Through my practice, I reconsider the way that humans interact with the environment and each other as our hybridized landscape progresses."

Lauren Jade Szabo is a Los Angeles born artist and educator who lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. She graduated with a BFA in Illustration from California College of the Arts with distinction, and received an MFA Fellowship from San Francisco Art Institute for graduate study in Painting, completed in 2018. She is a 2016 Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant recipient and received a Cadogan award for her graduate work in 2017. Her work has been exhibited internationally and locally including the De Young Museum and SFMOMA Artists Gallery, and is in private collections in Europe, South Africa, and the United States. She is the 2022 MarinMOCA Artist in Residence.