FRANCESCA LALANNE

Artist Statements About the Series

Lamentations, 2020

In Lamentations, I am making a connection between the notion of a heavy-duty material, long-lasting object and the idea of remembrance. I want to inscribe line work that records my present state of mind.  Whether it is through the televised murders of black people from police brutality or the rising count of Covid victims, there is an internal and universal mourning taking place. Thus, this series is to process these particular deaths, as they are being experienced this year. 

The work is comprised of figurative engravings on oxidized steel that evoke rituals of burial. Inspired by ancient carvings, these impressions include architectural and geometric shapes that connect with bodies, capturing mental and spatial dispositions. The aim is to reflect a sense of heaviness subjectively and objectively. Each sheet of steel is pierced at the center top, allowing for the protrusion of  a steel wire and suspension of a granite cube, symbolizing pendulums as well as emotional load. 

Lullaby for Haiti, 2020

In Lullaby for Haiti , I was trying to pull symbols from Haiti’s history to create paintings that were both matriotic and allegorical. The work is a combination of acrylic and cyanotype on paper. In architecture the cyanotype process is used to produce copies of drawings, referred to as blueprints. This series acts as a kind of blueprint , encouraging the viewer to look at the female figure as a powerful force and representation, and in doing so, disrupts the existing authority of male dominance and perspectives.

Deconstruction / under construction, 2015-17

Deconstruction is a turning point from the Under Construction series where the concept of destroying is part of the process of building (self); where walls and barriers are being broken as part of personal growth.

Under Construction is series that makes a comparison between the human form and architectural space. It presents the body as a sacred structure, that is occupied by smaller bodies. Through symbolism, the work draws ideas from religious narratives such as Christ's crown of thorns. These thorns, instead are set in a field intended to evoke a space of discomfort, while the figurative structure aims to maintain a posture of stillness.

This series bares a turbulent state of mind, seeking to uphold an attitude of steadiness in the midst of confinement and invisible programming. What is "under construction" is an identity. It is a self image that is in the process of unveiling.

About the artist

Francesca Lalanne was born in South Florida but raised in Haiti. At a young age she expressed interest in architecture and attended Miami's Design and Architecture High School which led her to her higher education at the Florida International University. There, she completed her Bachelor of Design in Architectural Studies and Fine Arts in 2005. In 2012 she earned her Masters of Fine Art at the Rochester Institute of Technology and received their Wallace Center Purchase Prize Award. She has had several solo exhibitions and participated in a variety of group exhibitions along with performance and public art installations. In 2015 she was a Joan Mitchell Grant Nominee and invited artist for Khoj International Artist Workshop in Pune, India. Her work has been exhibited at Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, Art Miami, and recently, Quotidian Gallery in Los Angeles. 

Francesca's contemporary work is influenced by various sources that range from architecture to psychology. Her multidisciplinary practice often explore dual concepts such as life and death, resistance and obedience, and control and freedom. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California.