Lauren Halsey facts for kids

Lauren Halsey is an American artist born in Los Angeles, California, in 1987. She creates amazing art using buildings and special art setups. Her work shows what life is like in city neighborhoods, especially places like South Central, Los Angeles.

Lauren Halsey's Early Life and School

Lauren Halsey was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1987. When she was younger, she dreamed of becoming a professional basketball player.

She finished high school at the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies in 2005. For five years, she attended El Camino Community College in Torrance, California. Later, she studied art at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) from 2008 to 2012. There, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree. After that, she went to Yale University from 2012 to 2014, where she earned a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree.

Lauren Halsey's Art Projects

Lauren Halsey looks up to many artists, including Betye Saar and Mark Bradford. She says her art tries to "summon a world suffused with an ethos of funk." A main idea in her art is to show her community in South Central Los Angeles. She also includes parts of her family in her artwork.

Early Exhibitions and Collaborations

From 2012 to 2014, Halsey worked on a project called Harlem Postcards. This project was shown at The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York. During this time, she also finished her final art show at CalArts and started at Yale University.

In 2015, Halsey's art was part of the United exhibition at Coney Island Art Walls. The same year, she was in the Everything, Everyday exhibition at the Studio Museum. She worked alongside other artists like Sadie Barnette and Eric Mack. In 2016, she designed a special float for the Kingdom Day Parade in Los Angeles.

Major Art Shows and Awards

In 2018, Halsey had a solo art show at the Foundation Louis Vuitton in Paris, France. She also had a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles. Her work was also shown at the Hammer Museum. Lauren Halsey was new to the Los Angeles art scene when she won the Mohn Award in 2018. She also won the Frieze Artist Award in 2019.

Halsey's art was part of a traveling exhibition in 2019 called Young, Gifted, and Black: The Lumpkin-Boccuzzi Family Collection of Contemporary Art.

the eastside of south central los angeles hieroglyph prototype architecture (I) (2023) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

In 2022, the Metropolitan Museum of Art asked Lauren Halsey to create an outdoor artwork. This piece was for the museum's roof garden. The exhibition was planned for 2023 because of shipping delays from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Halsey designed a large art piece called the eastside of south central los angeles hieroglyph prototype architecture (I). This artwork was an open-air building shaped like a cube. It was inspired by ancient Egyptian buildings. Four sphinx statues and several tall columns surrounded it. The white walls of the building and columns had many etchings. These etchings included phrases, names, drawings, and historical references about Black culture. Many of them specifically referred to Halsey's community in South Central, Los Angeles. The sphinx sculptures and other busts were based on Halsey's friends and family, including her mother, Glenda.

This amazing artwork was on display from April to October 2023. Halsey has said she plans to move the artwork permanently to South Central Los Angeles. A critic from The New York Times called it "one of the best" roof garden commissions.

keepers of the krown (2024) at the 60th Venice Biennale

Art at the Venice Biennale

In 2024, Halsey created an outdoor art installation for the 60th Venice Biennale. This is a very important art show. Her installation, called keepers of the krown, was similar to her other architectural works. It featured several tall white columns decorated with faces, drawings, and text. These designs referenced people and places in Halsey's community. The columns were placed with three decorated white benches outside the main Arsenale building.

Other Activities and Community Work

Nike Collaboration

In 2019, Lauren Halsey worked with Nike. She designed a special Air Force sneaker with her "Summaeverything" style. This made her one of the few artists to ever design a Nike sneaker.

Her collection for Nike included sneakers, socks, and t-shirts. It became available on December 7, 2019. The shoes were a new version of Nike’s Air Force 1 High style.

Helping the Community

A big part of Halsey's work is giving back to her neighborhood. In 2020, she started the "Summaeverythang Community Center." This project helped people in need during the COVID-19 pandemic. It provided organic fruits, vegetables, and other important items to local residents. Halsey used her own savings and donations from the Summaeverythang website to fund this effort. In 2020, Summaeverythang donated about 600 boxes of organic produce every week.

Awards and Recognition

Lauren Halsey has received many awards for her art.

• In 2011, the California Institute of Arts gave her The Beutner Family Award of Excellence in the Arts.
• She received the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture scholarship in 2014.
• From 2014 to 2015, Halsey was part of the Artist-in-Residence program at the Studio Museum in Harlem. She was recognized for changing the Mezzanine Gallery with her special installation called Everything, Everyday.
• In 2015, she received the Rema Hort Mann Foundation Emerging Artist grant.
• She won the William H. Johnson Price in 2017.
• Also in 2017, she received the Edge Award from the Los Angeles Design Festival.
• In 2018, Halsey received $100,000 for the Mohn Award, which honors excellent artists.
• In 2019, Lauren Halsey won the Frieze Art award, which included $25,000. This money helped her create a new artwork for the Frieze New York art fair.
• Also in 2019, she received the 2019 Painter and Sculptors Grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation in New York.
• In 2021, Halsey received the Gwendolyn Knight | Jacob Lawrence Prize from the Seattle Art Museum.

Art Galleries Representing Lauren Halsey

Since 2023, Lauren Halsey has been represented by Gagosian Gallery. She has also been represented by David Kordansky Gallery since 2018.