Lauren Halsey

Lauren Halsey (b. 1987) is a contemporary African American artist from Los, Angeles, California. Halsey uses architecture and installation art to demonstrate the realities of urban neighborhoods like South Central, Los Angeles. In 2018 Halsey was involved in a solo exhibition at Foundation Louis Vuitton, Paris. Also in 2018, she participated in a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). Her work was at the Hammer Museum. New to the L.A. art scene, Halsey was awarded theMohn Award in 2018. She won the Frieze Artist Award in 2019. This prize included the opportunity to create an architectural piece for Frieze New York.

Lauren Halsey was interested in art at a very early age. She attended the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies during her middle school years. Halsey’s higher education started at California College of the Arts (CCA) where she studied architecture, which would later play a role in her artwork. After leaving (CCA), Halsey went to El Camino Community College then transferred to the California Institute of Arts in Valencia, California. After completing her Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in 2012, Halsey received a Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

From 2006-2011, while attending El Camino Community College and the California Institute of Arts, Lauren Halsey completed many collaborative works with colleagues. The works included printmaking, digital art, sculpting, and drawings.

From 2012-2014, Halsey continued working with colleagues on a projected titled Harlem Postcards, which was presented at The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY. During this time, Halsey also completed her thesis exhibition at the California Institute of the Arts. Halsey then completed a thesis sculpture at Yale University.

2015- United, Coney Island Art Walls presented in Coney Island, NY curated by Jeffrey Deitch

2015 - Everything, Everyday: Artists in Residence 2014 - 2015, The Studio Museum in Harlem, Harlem, NY

2016- What A Time To Be Alive, presented in Los Angeles, CA

2016- Diaspora Calling!, King’s Theatre, presented in Brooklyn, NY, curated by Ms. Lauryn Hill + MoCADA

2016- lmitation of Life: Melodrama and Race in the 21st Century, Manchester, UK

2016- SouthLand, Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2016- And Who is My Neighbor: Stories From the Margins Biola University, La Mirada, CA

2016- Radio Imagination: Artists in the Archive of Octavia E. Butler, The Armory, Pasadena, CA

2017- Re-Imagine Justice, Community Coalition South L.A., Los Angeles, CA

2017- 1992: An Examination of the Iconography from the ‘92 Rebellion, Residency Art, Inglewood, CA

2017-WE: Visual Reflections on the American Experiment, Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, CA    

2017- Fire Season, Mauve-Vienna, presented in Vienna, Austria  

2017- Black Is A Color, Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2017-18- Senator Holly J. Mitchell’s California Contemporary Art Collection Exhibition, Sacramento, CA

2018- Sidelined, Galerie Lelong, New York, NY

2018-Greater Than LA, Desert Center, Los Angeles, CA

2018-Close to the Edge: The Birth of Hip Hop Architecture, Center for Architecture, New York, NY

2018- Made In L.A. 2018, The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA

2019- Punch, Jeffrey Deitch Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

Solo exhibitions

2018- We still here, There, The Museum of Contemporary Art ( MOCA), Los Angeles, CA

2019- Open Space #5 : Too Blessed 2 Be Stressed!, Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris, France

California Institute of Arts awarded Lauren Halsey The Beutner Family Award of Excellence in the Arts in 2011. Halsey was awarded the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture scholarship for emerging artist in 2014. Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture scholarship offers opportunities that fully engage with studio practice. In 2014-15, Halsey was part of the Studio Museum in Harlems Artist-in-Residence program. She was recognized for transforming the Mezzanine Gallery with a site-specific installation for her exhibition titled Everything, Everyday. Halsey is the recipient of the Rema Hort Mann Foundation Emerging Artist grant, 2015. She received the William H. Johnson Price in 2017. Also in 2017, she was awarded the Edge Award from the Los Angeles Design Festival. In 2018, Halsey received $100,000 for the Mohn Award to honor her artistic excellence. Additionally, as part of the Mohn Award, the Hammer Museum will also produce a monograph of Halsey’s work. In 2019, Lauren Halsey was named the winner of the Frieze Art, for which she will receive $25,000, funded by Luma Foundation, to create a new work for the upcoming edition of Frieze New York art fair.