Art has always been a part of Lauren Pilla’s life, but it wasn’t until this year that she truly surrendered to it. Change is uncomfortable and jarring at times, but that’s where the growth lies and in her case a return to who she always was – an artist. She had suppressed her gifts and spent a long time on a path she didn’t belong on, later realizing it was all part of the divine process in order for her to arrive here. Lauren spent most of her career working in male dominated industries where she tried to fit into a mold surrounded by people who wanted her to become their own vision, not hers. She had been stuck in a world driven by masculine energy.

What is your Style?
I am a contemporary figurative oil painter who paints on canvas. My painting process starts with a traditional approach dating back to the old masters, doing an underpainting usually in raw umber, which is a monochromatic painting which functions as the foundation to determine the balance of light and dark areas, before the color layers are applied.

Share some insight on this series!
The premise of this series is reclaiming the feminine energy. Water is a feminine earth element and the life force of everything in nature. It’s symbolic of the feminine spirit of oneness and receptive energy, which is why the floating poses in water capture a moment of stillness juxtaposed with regeneration. Water is shapeless, formless and cannot be confined, connecting back to the liberating moment of coming back to one’s-self. The fluidity of the chiffon is representative of the fabric of life. The threads that interweave our experiences and one’s pursuit for meaning and happiness.

Artist Lauren Pilla grew up in Gates Mills, Ohio. She received her BFA (Major, Fashion Design) from The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. After college, she worked for the German fashion house Escada and jewelry brand Ruchi New York. She also worked in venture capital for a private real estate family and EXOR (the holding company of the Agnelli family) in New York. Lauren’s non-linear path has been the culmination that’s led her to discovering her purpose of being an artist. Lauren left the corporate world and moved to Florida at the end of 2021 to pursue oil painting. Lauren is a contemporary figurative painter whose work has been focused on painting imagery of herself underwater. As both the artist and the subject, she combines her spiritual practice with painting.

www.laurenpillaart.com