Lauren West (b. 1989, Oxford, MS) is a visual artist from Oxford, Mississippi who now resides in New York City. She received her MFA degree from The New York Academy of Art after obtaining a BFA from the University of Mississippi. West’s paintings deal with the wild combination of animals, Southern imagery in the United States, humor, and existentialism. The majority of the work consists of a half fantastical, half realist approach to oil paint which often depicts beasts coming to grips with their own impermanence. She enjoys creating characters in worlds that don’t mind leaning into the cheesy wonderment of what it all means. Perseverance is an important element within these characters while they are seen continuing onward despite noticing their own mortality. The result can be described as comically hopeful and bittersweet. Lauren West has exhibited in Mississippi at the University of Mississippi Museum in Oxford, and in New York at Right Behind the New Museum, ChaShaMa, and The New York Academy of Art, among others.

Two Turtles in the Snow, 2017
Beast , 2020
Cahoots 1 , 2020
Offerings , 2020
Up There, 2021
Baby , 2021
Good Fence, 2020
A Little Tenderness, 2021
Wall, 2021
Acorn Woodpecker, 2021
Over There , 2021
The Bottom , 2021
Cattails with Grey Area, 2020
Cahoots 2, 2020
Horned Section, 2020

oil on canvas
72 x 48 inches
(182.9 x 121.9 cm)

Red UFO, 2018
Round a Dove, 2020
Reflections Post Lascaux, 2021

oil on canvas
84 x 80 inches
(213.3 x 203.2 cm)

Pushing by Stepping , 2017
Broken Scythe, 2020
Lasting Sugar Phosphate Backbone, 2021