Entry to the ENDANGERED Art & Photography Contest 2017

Drill baby drill by Lauren Lipinski Eisen. All Rights Reserved.

My work explores the relationships between landscape, architecture, agriculture, horticulture and other aspects of industry that affect native plant and animal life. In my encaustic works, references to these subjects are integrated into the surface of the paintings as dimensional collage elements. Branches, reeds, seeds and other raw plant materials as well as processed food items and animal effigies are embedded into a wax medium to showcase their fragility in various stages of life, from embryos to post-harvest products processed for mass consumption. Copper, metal wire and mesh underlying and surrounding the paintings suggest a mechanical / industrial presence infiltrating and isolating the natural ecosystem. This series of mixed media works comments on our consumption of natural resources, utilizing produce and patterns of planting to reference agricultural and genetic modification of the landscape.