As if social media were a cosmic invader on the human species, the video begins with a view of Earth from outer space, and lands in Lala Drona’s home city, Paris, France. The viewer finds the artist underground, inside an air shaft. Alone, and illuminated only by the light of her phone, she begins to voice opinions and expressions that have become all too familiar to anyone growing up post-millennial.
The performance art video “The Like Me” delves into the isolating effects of social media through its guise of connection. This video experience, examines the normalised anxiety we feel on a daily basis.
The art performance video series “La Minute Ladrona” exists within the context of a confined space. The black backdrop and unknown location capture the viewer for a moment of intimacy through the screen. However, “The Like Me” stands to be the first time Lala Drona has located herself in the context of our outside world— now injecting elements of story into this video series.
“The Like Me” being the 7th, and most recent instalment, has critics and academics alike seeing the beginnings of an evolution regarding the art video series. As one critic in the L.D. Confidential stated: “The Like Me is the first time that Lala Drona has played with the idea of space and context. She has become a being which exists in our shared world, albeit still hidden in the dark corners of it. She is publicly appropriating the role of “observer.” The detailed work regarding lighting, place and concept, shows a confidence and artistic maturity. This new instalment promises more exciting things to come regarding Lala Drona’s work.”
This video has Art fans asking if this video is a sign of coming changes in Lala Drona’s social media presence. Perhaps this video is what remains from the journey she’s made from tool to master. One thing is certain: the creation of this piece shows us that no one is immune to the effects of social media. Even when an artist attempts to evade it, its omnipotence proves itself by resurfacing in her work.
The L.D. Times releases its yearly article in a new format, this time doubling its artist coverage. Clare Steele (Australia) and Lala Drona (France), talk about their digital friendship, and what it means to be an artist today.
Lala Drona, painter / videaste, and Clare Steele, conceptual documentary photographer, first met in Seville, Spain in June 2018. They met in an all-female artist residency, and with Ezra Enzo (USA), abstract painter, became a solid international artist trio.
“They really bounce well off of one another,” said other artists-in-residence about the trio. “Since the residency, they’ve been able to keep in contact and support one another from 3 different continents through voice message.”
When approached about the topic, Lala Drona stated, “I’m so happy to have these women in my life. This is an artist friendship that represents our times: Three strong female artists, living in different countries, empowering one another by sharing our experiences through smartphone applications, in long-form voice notes. Sometimes I feel like these voice-notes are our contemporary letter-writing.”
When Clare Steele visited Paris, France in October this year, it was essential that they finally record one of these conversations. Click below to read the full article.
Ever since Lala Drona’s groundbreaking (albeit controversial) work with Muse inspiration extraction, a wide range of Muse Services have continued to pop up. Her invention of the industry has birthed innovations in Artist-Muse services and has revolutionised the way we think about inspiration, redefining the roles artists/muses play within the act of creation. Thanks to these developments, we can find more that 1000 Artist-Muse/Inspiration services spread across Western Europe and the Eastern United States today.
Since the genesis of the industry, Lala Drona has decided to branch out. Her investment in her European Art tour has left her strapped for cash, and it couldn’t have come at a worse time. Lala Drona’s next art project with Lala Laboratories is bigger than ever. Sources say that in order to make some extra cash, Lala Drona is taking on a side-hustle, offering her expertise to other muse services.
She has been spotted on 3 different occasions with higher-ups from the company AMServices (Artist-Muse Services), a service which enables artists to test out their Muse’s ideas on mass audiences in an online system. In this system, artists are able to test their muse’s ideas, tweak them, and test them again. The system keeps track of every variation of the idea, and lets the artist test all the versions simultaneously in real time. The artist can compare each version of the idea by diverting audiences to each one, and observing how each performs. By doing this, the artist can select the highest performing version of the idea and use that one for creation.
AMServices has been criticised by many in the art world, as many find it to be “Big Brotheresque,” some having described the service as “the art world meets Big Data.” Even Lala herself has accused the service of “taking the soul out of creation by commercialising ideas and adapting them to a mass audience…all in the aim of making more money.”
Despite all of this, AMServices sticks to their vision of “data as a tool,” denying intentions to commercialise or “main-stream” ideas. AMServices Founder Anita DeBlanca made a statement in 2017 saying “We provide data services. What our clients decide to do with that data is their choice.”
The verdict is still out regarding Lala’s updated views on AMServices, and sources have not been able to confirm what Lala Drona’s involvement with the company will be. Either way, this unexpected move has the art world on the edge of their seats, anticipating future innovations expected to come from this collaboration.
Lala Drona sits down with L.D. Times Magazine once again for an exclusive interview. This time she discusses the ways in which social media and the Internet influence and affect her work as an artist. Read the full article here.
Lala Drona’s head prosthetic earns her a nomination for this year’s SDA awards.
In recent news, Lala Drona is claiming her work on Matthew Damon’s head.
Nominations for the bi-annual Screen Development Awards have been announced. Lala Drona, the first female fine artist to be nominated for the award, was selected for her work “The Tree of Life” on Matt Damon’s head in the 2013 film Elysium.
Lala Drona and Matt Damon after the awards ceremony.
Every two years, the SDA awards artists for advancements in special effects make-up technology. The SDA aims to promote art in special effects make-up in an era where computer generated effects dominates the industry.
However, complaints were filed not more than one hour after Lala Drona received her nomination for the award. Now that the demand for special effects artists has hit a low, it seems that only major players in the industry are able to stay afloat. Since Lala Drona’s piece “The Tree of Life” was a product of the Lala Laboratory, some say the SDA should also take action to promote and support independent artists.
One of Lala’s fans is surely not complaining. Matt Damon accompanied Lala Drona to the nomination ceremony, where sources say the duo were reprimanded for incessant giggling and whispering during the announcements. Damon revealed that he decided to keep Lala’s prothetic implant intact under the skin of his skull even after finishing the movie. He’s a big fan of Lala’s and says that he likes the idea of being “a walking piece of art.”
Based on a Fact Helen Peters, journalist at Pop Prothetics Magazine
Lala makes a speech as people come from all walks of life to sign up to be a Drone. Photo by Kamilia Amber.
Just nine months after her last exhibition at Düo Gallery in Paris, Lala has launched another showing of her work in the exhibition “Je suis…” Her Muses, Drones, and Motivation Monster representatives showed their support, as collectors, gallerists and fans stood in line to exchange words with the artist.
Drone #1 back at Lala’s side?
Shockingly, even Drone #1 attended the event, stating he was there for the artist’s protection. Days before the opening, Lala released a statement admitting that she has secretly been keeping Drone #1 in the laboratory since his breach in Drone Code. “Nine months ago, I decided to launch a rehabilitation program for Drones. Drone #1 has been the first participant in this program.” In this boot camp, participants experience reconditioning aimed to eradicate the undesirable personality traits of insurgent Drones.
Lala also admits that Drone #1’s leaked video from last April was filmed during his rehabilitation program in the Lala Laboratory. “It’s a difficult process, and rejection is the natural first step towards completion of the program.”
Drone #1 isn’t the only Drone fighting to be at Lala’s side. Due to a successful exhibition opening, she has created masses of new Drones. After the art opening, she rushed back to the Lala Laboratory in order to help her newborn Drones into the world. Video documentation below.
Lala Drona documents her art experiment. After a breach of Drone Code, Drone #1 is banished from The Lala World. His death will not be in vain, as Lala donates his remains to Art!
For those of you who desire a bit of consolidation of last year’s news: The Lala World Recap 2014.
The city of lights has not been kind to Lala. Arrested for spray painting the city walls and landing in urgent care are just a few of Lala Drona’s mishaps since her arrival.
Lala Drona in urgent care.
Lady Paris seems to have made Lala Drona harder, and the struggle has awakened her darker tendencies. The year 2014 marks the year of transition, when Lala assumes her title of “art villain.”
On various occasions, Lala has compared her artistic process to theft. “I steal others ideas because I don’t have my own” (2014 Art Prison Interview, L.D. Times Magazine). However, Lala pushed her artistic process an inch too far at an annual Paris “Perve Grandma Convention,” where she attempted to steal a Fred Le Chevalier piece from his oldest fan.
And Lala did not stop there. Later on that year, she allegedly stole thousands of dollars from desperate YouTube insomniacs who had fallen victim to her fake sleep hypnosis video. Although the media seemed to focus on Lala’s dark side, BOAF attempted to show the human behind the artist as well.
On April 24th, Lala traveled back to her home town Denver, Colorado in order to finalize preparations for a long-awaited hand transplant. Comments filled message boards questioning the authenticity (and humanity) behind the art pieces created since Lala’s mechanical hand acquisition.
Lala caught on the streets of Paris wearing a splint.
How would the prosthetic affect her paintings and would it cramp her hand dancing style? Before leaving Denver, Lala put on a spontaneous showing of her “Pre-Lala” work in an exclusive at-home art garage sale.
Along with the art garage sale last year, Lala committed other acts that were difficult to understand. In 2014, Lala’s face appeared twice in the subway station. The first was in Paris. She appeared holding an apple in a
Translation: The #1 extramarital dating site made by women./ Dare. Bite. Taste.
Geeden advertisement for adulterous online-dating (Lala later painted this experience). Next the artist appeared in a Berlin subway station, pants down in public. While the Geeden advertisement left fans wondering if Lala had sold out, the no-pants Berlin display just left them confused.
Other stunts this year were much easier to understand. To prove she isn’t all bad, Lala showed her support in adopting mutant bees in Paris. Her videos went viral in France when she took to the streets and battled against censorship with her “Don’t Retouch This” campaign. The artist “pulled a Banksy” when she sold originals of her artwork cheaply on the streets of Paris at the same time as galleries sold her work for thousands at the FIAC. She even had a little fun as she was seen shopping and drinking champagne at Paris’ 2014 Vogue Fashion Night Out.
However, it wasn’t all fun and games last year. In 2014, Lala launched the construction of her Warholian dream: The Lala Laboratory. During the construction, tensions in art politics were at a high. Muses were on strike and Lala’s unorthodox muse practices were thrown into the light.
Journalists infiltrated what is thought to be the Lala Laboratory and discovered a Muse Sweatshop. In an attempt to evade the Art Guild (the authorities), Lala invited journalists to a fake Lala Laboratory tour. The police were called, and Lala Drona was arrested on the spot for trespassing.
The board members of the Art Guild found Lala guilty of Muse Abuse and Torture in the first degree and she was sentenced to spend one month in Paris Art Prison. In prison, Lala Drona gave an interview, revealing for the first time ever, the method behind her madness. Upon her release, a masked man broke into the prison mail room and stole Lala’s prison letters written to Shutupi. The unknown man published the letters, revealing perhaps more than Lala would have liked regarding her feelings towards the Art Guild.
Out of jail and straight to work, the artist began preparations for her anticipated exhibition. After one small exhibition in May 2013 on arrival in Paris, one year later, Lala landed a place on the walls of Düo Gallery. The exhibition titled From the Bed to the Lab presented a retrospective look on her paintings created in Paris, all connected by the theme of the bed.
Photography and text by Richard Beban from Paris Play.
The three series exhibited were the Breast Series: a confrontation with a difficult past/ the bed a place of healing. The Sexe Sans Sex Series: a series of wanderings, and an analysis of her outside world/ the bed a place of experimentation. The Lala World Series: Lala’s new series, where she commits to painting the Lala World (the fictionalized articles found on Based on a Fact) in order to move freely between the virtual and the real, and create her own world/ the bed a place of dreams–and her dream: The Lala Lab.
Following a successful exhibition of her world, Lala plans to continue following her dark path. She’s back to her old methods of abuse and torture in order to extract inspiration from her muses and has marked the beginning of 2015 with the banishment of her beloved Drone #1. Only time will tell what’s to come of Lala and her Drones, Muses and Laboratory…
Lala works with Düo and the local Paris Department of Chemistry to create a binary concoction of food and drink to be served at her three-day exhibition From the Bed to the Lab. Together, they have created a collection of duo-aperitifs to mirror the colors and theme of Lala Drona’s paintings. A team of chemists and food critics have altered the elements of the cuisine in hopes of producing mind-altering effects. Online forums question the safety of these secret ingredients, but Lala Drona has gone on record stating that there are neither toxic nor illegal chemicals in her laboratory creations. With titles such as “Muse Serum” and “Mile-high Club,” Lala says that the power of suggestion will be enough to send her guests into Lala-Land.
With just over three weeks left before opening night, Lala rushes to put the finishing touches on her paintings and event plans. “It’s a lot of work,” Lala says, “but I’m excited to open my universe to the public.” Only time will tell if the public is ready to receive Lala’s world.
To learn more about the event, visit and RSVP the event here.
Do not pass go, do not collect two-hundred dollars. News just released of Lala Drona trespassing onto private property while faking a personal tour of the Lala Laboratory. Lala Drona leads an art laboratory where they run experiments on inspiration development and extraction. Recently, allegations were brought forward staing that Lala Drona had been conducting unethical experiments on Muses to extract thei inspiration for her artwork; “These experiements could only be described with the word “torture,” stated Lindsay Cullum, investigative journalist.
In response to the allegations, the artist invited journalists to her underground layer to disprove accusations of muse abuse and torture. However, the property Lala was showing had been a front to deflect the media from her real underground layer. Embarrassingly enough, the authorities caught Lala in the act (as you can see at the end of the tour video) and arrested her on the spot. She is rumored to be held on seven accounts of muse abuse and trespassing and could be in prison for up to two months before she is allowed to post bail. The media are currently working with the authorities to unearth the real location of the Lala Laboratory.
Based on a Fact will be the first to let all of you Drones know when Lala leaves the Slammer, but until then, the website will be frozen until all litigations on such a matter are resolved.
Based On A Fact 
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