Lauren Rose Kinney lives in a fantasy land. Through wood carving, etchings, and books, the artist builds detail-dense images that would look natural inside a heavy leather-bound collection of Grimms' Fairy Tales.
The ASU MFA student's thesis exhibition, "Drawing of a Muchness," is on display through Friday, April 27, at Harry Wood Gallery and includes depictions of Rube Goldberg contraptions, intricate imagery reminiscent of Max Ernst and Marc Chagall, and an immersive sense of whimsy.
"I collect junk, I keep a dream journal, I write and draw things I see in my daily life, and I read a lot of fiction," Kinney says of her creative process. "I take all of these and tweak them with my imagination [finding] points where they relate or merge together to build a new narrative."
The storytelling thread runs through her exhibition. She describes her woodcuts in the show as stories rich with repeated symbols and hidden images that force the eye around the picture and lead the viewer through the tale. "Looking at them is like walking into a life-size picture book," Kinney says.
Also on view are her more minimal and spontaneous etchings of machinery and tiny, improvised worlds, which Kinney says she'll whip up on the fly -- whenever inspiration strikes her -- and books that she's created in collaboration with writers that are "full of imagery inspired by, rather than describing, the writing."
Kinney's free exhibition will be on view and open to the public at Harry Wood Gallery daily through Friday, April 27. An opening reception will take place Tuesday, April 24, from 6 to 8 p.m. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday.
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