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.
For the past four weeks, Lala Drona has escaped the hustle and bustle of the city and has retired in the small town of Kintai, Lithuania. Away from distractions, Lala Drona has created a new diptych titled “Between Us.”
The first panel depicts several figures ascending, while the panel on the right depicts the same figures descending. After an interview with Lala Drona, Diana Springer from the Daily Artlife Network relays what the artist said about these paintings:
“Between Us demonstrates the two choices that women have, starting from our first encounters with one another. We can ascend together, or destroy one another. The asymmetrical reflectivity of the bodies represent the slippery difference between creation and destruction. Observations show that first encounters between men and between women differ in the western world. In first meetings, men approach other men as if they are “friends first, and enemies later.” They are friendly, until the other provides a reason that they should not be.
In a world where women are statistically offered less opportunity than men, it is no wonder that women approach each other as enemies first. There is a smaller piece of the pie offered to them, so they are pitted against one another to fight over that smaller piece. This is why women approach one another with the mentality of “enemies first, friends later” (Springer, Daily Artlife Network, Issue XXII).
Lala Drona also stated that in her experience, not all women approach other women as enemies first. “I’ve met women that are absolutely welcoming. Other’s have given me the impression that I have to prove myself before we can be friendly. I created this diptych to show how we [women] may also be contributing to systematic oppression.” This piece serves as a call to action to all women. Lala Drona claims that the first step to unite as women is to change our perceptions of one another in our first encounters. Perhaps, if we can see one another as allies first, rather than competition, we will be able to protect and trust one another. And in the end, help each other rise to create a world where we can exercise our potential and prosper by our own rules.
Title: Speak or Listen, Acrylic on canvas 50cm x 60cm
Last week, Lala Drona brought down the house with her debut performance in French at Le Castel, a private club located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris.
Le Castel was founded by the French event coordinator, Jean Castel in 1962. Many knew Jean Castel as “le roi des nuits parisiennes” (the king of Parisian nights), Private performances, artist-types and parties continue to roll through this institution today. In the basement of the building, there are sofas and chairs surrounding a stage. On the stage last week, the painting titled “Speak of Listen” by Lala Drona was displayed. Performance artist Wenjue Zhang, placed black boxes containing peep-holes around the room. Inside said boxes, lied an image, erotic and explicit…saturated in colour. Hypnotic music began to play in the background, and Lala Drona stepped onto the stage… (video below).
Lala Drona’s performance titled “Experiment 88: Speak or Listen” recounts an artist’s (Jade Edwards’) experience in Lala Laboratories. The artist is the subject in an experiment that will result in artistic revelation (article continues below):
still from performance at Le Castel
Sources say that this performance serves as an advertisement for the new Lala Laboratory. Since 2014, Lala has had quite a bit of trouble due to her unconventional inspiration extraction methods from muses. She has gone to Art Prison, inspired muse protests and strikes, and inadvertently caused changes in muse rights legislature. After the Lala Laboratory explosion in 2016, Lala Drona has simultaneously been looking for a place to put down roots, whilst also dodging investigations into inhumane Lala Laboratory experiments.
still from performance at Le Castel
Since 2017, Lala Drona has been traveling the world in the form of an exhibition tour. She stated last week, “I’ve been traveling in order to look for a new place for Lala Laboratories. And finally, I’ve found it.” Lala Laboratories, formerly “The Lala Laboratory” had to change its name due to copyright issues, but according to Lala, that wasn’t the only change that took place. “Lala Laboratories no longer includes muses in their research and experiments. After the protests, the project got a bad rap. It was almost impossible to get anything done due to new bureaucracy and protections. Now, thanks to the former muse experiments, we’ve collected all the data that we need, and it’s time to open our experiments to their proper demographic. Now, Lala Laboratories serves to enhance artist inspiration and methods, through experiences catered to each individual artist. The performance at Le Castel was a simulation of that…sort of an advertisement for the new laboratory, if you will.”
When questioned about the location of Lala
Laboratories, Lala explained: “It took going all over the world, and
encountering every problem imaginable to get to the solution. Lala Laboratories has installed itself in the
intangible: in the virtual spaces online, in every conversation, and in every collaboration
and project connecting to us. If you
have interacted with myself, my Drones, muses, and my community in any way, you
ARE part of Lala Laboratories.”
It had been 3 days now since things had gone south with Muse Leira—she wanted Lala Drona out, out of that room as soon as possible. Never had she ever met an artist so enveloped by her own work, so committed to her own style and message, an artist with vision alright…with tunnel vision.
Muse Leira tried, time and time again, to inspire Lala Drona to continue her and Colonel Morgado’s work with battle strategies. She tried to influence Lala to wage art war on the Art Guild: the legislation which passed all art-related laws. When that didn’t work, She tried to influence the artist to strategise against those who did not believe in art. She tried to convince Lala of the destructive force that she possessed when she put paintbrush to canvas. Muse Leira’s work with Colonel Morgado had been left unfinished, and she wanted Lala, more than any other artist to have entered that room before, to implement the battle strategies that Leira and the Colonel had started, into her paintings.
Lala Drona refused to accept the muse’s battle inspiration, and arrogantly explained to Muse Leira how this creative collaboration would unfold. Lala had already decided on a concept, and merely needed the muse to help her develop the images for it. The concept for the triptych of paintings would examine the development of online relationships/friendships, from the digital to the real. It would unfold over three parts on three canvases:
Canvas 1: “We Find Our Match in the Digital Masses”
Canvas 2: “We Give Each Other Space to Grow”
Canvas 3: “Together, We Make Each Other Human”
“Together we make each other human?
What’s so great about being human anyway?” Leira said.
Lala explained. “I meant for “human” to be taken metaphorically…like coming together in real life is what helps us maintain our humanity— or our compassion—empathy…”
“You are insinuating that “humanity” only expresses a compassionate side—while today more than ever we are witnessing humanity’s “inhumanity”. Not to mention, that idea is corny. It would be a disservice to the entire triptych. I’ll sign off on the first two ideas, but the third has got to go.”
Lala laughed, “I don’t think you really understand your role here.”
“Role? You will suffer if you chose to stay in this room and not implement my inspiration.”
Lala scoffed and ignored the muse. She threw herself into the work, but her ideas did not flow; she felt creatively blocked. Sketching the third idea was like trying to manoeuvre a paintbrush with her toes. The images would not translate onto paper. But Lala kept drawing, too committed to her method.
Through the night, Lala persisted with her work but not without rebellion from Muse Leira. Over the next few nights, Leira appeared to the dog outside Lala’s room. At first, the barking only distracted Lala slightly, as she told herself that she would get used to it, just as she got used to the other sounds of the town.
Hours upon hours, the dog barked outside of her window, a rhythmic barking that ricocheted off the walls of the colonel’s room—every burst of canine scream was a wack over Lala’s ears. Muse Leira appeared over Lala as she drew, willing her own inspiration into the artist’s mind. The more Lala resisted, the more Leira’s inspiration would change shape and become stronger. With every wave of inspiration, Lala’s drawing began to warp and transform as well, into circles and lines, a battle strategy that she could not decipher.
The church bells clanged, the roosters cooed and every dog in that town barked simultaneously in the same rhythmic pattern. Lala covered her ears and screamed as an image of Muse Leira and Colonel Morgado emerged from a white fog with their troops behind them. Flashes of bloodshed, of flesh in the air, a mix or white and red coalesced into a pink cloud. They marched on through the pink fog…then, as quickly as it came, the image went dark again. A new image came into Lala’s mind. The artist, followed by her drones and muses, sitting atop a globe, sitting atop with someone she had never met before…working together towards a common goal.
Lala began drawing the new image, and as she drew, the cacophony outside dulled; it subsided. Muse Leira appeared at her side with a hesitant smile. Lala finished the drawing, but just as her pencil left the paper, the noise started up again.
Lala covered her ears and Muse Leira peered closer at the new concept for the third painting. She read the title below:
Canvas 3: “Together, We Conquer the World.”
Muse Leira couldn’t have been happier with the results of their collaboration—she thought of Colonel Morgado, their late nights together planning their battle strategies, side by side like in Lala’s drawing. Before the Colonel’s death, Muse Leira thought that they would one day conquer the world, and now through Lala Drona’s piece, in some way, they had.
Muse Leira looked up from the sketch, and found Lala packing her bags. The barking had stopped outside, but continued to pulsate through Lala’s mind.
“The barking in my head won’t stop.” Lala said. Lala held her head and threw her backpack over her shoulder. She smiled. “And I think our work here is done.” She approached Muse Leira, who was standing in front of the door of the room. Lala stood there, canvases under her arms, and looking Leira up and down. She took a deep breath and then hugged her. “Thank you, Leira…for everything— I know I’m not easy to work with, and my inspiration extraction techniques are unconventional, but I knew you could do it all along.” Lala patted Leira on the shoulder. “Well done.” Lala sighed, pushed through the doorway, and ventured into the night.
Since her return to Paris last May, Lala Drona doesn’t seem to be able to keep her feet on the ground! From France, to Spain and now to Portugal, her European tour is causing a media art frenzy!
In June 2018, Lala began her European tour at an art residency in Seville, Spain. She spoke with the local media before her exhibition there “The Power of the Click” to tell them that she had been staying at the residency with seven other women artists from around the world. “I had already lived with seven women once in a favela in Brazil in 2010, so I had my reservations about living with so many women at once, however, I was surrounded by so many talented, warm-hearted and hard-working artists. I felt fortunate to be part of such an incredible team.”
“The Power of the Click” triptych by Lala Drona
She went on to explain that the ecosystem of feminine energy and experience intensified her feminist beliefs and contributed to the creation of her triptych “The Power of the Click”—a piece which examines how our digital actions on women’s bodies can have consequences in the real world. She continues to have strong links with some of the artists, and says that these artists support and inspire each other everyday through voice message notes.
Lala returned to Paris in August, where she recharged and replenished her inspiration receptors. It was during this time that she locked herself in to her workshop and broadened the scope through which she viewed her current area of artistic research.
Title: Speak or Listen, Artist: Lala Drona, Acrylic on canvas 50cm x 60cm Paris France, 2018
She had been sensing the world changing due to the growth of social media, a positive change where everyone started to have an opinion and exercised their voice. And at the same time, a rise in the tendency to not listen to people when recounting their experiences. “It’s important to remember that every conversation is not an attack or a debate, but that sometimes we are just sharing stories.
Title: Zoom in 1, Artist: Lala Drona, Acrylic on canvas 50cm x 60cm Paris France, 2018
We don’t always have to prepare a rebuttal. I notice a lack of picking up on those conversational nuances, a lack of knowing when to listen, and when to speak. That’s why I created this painting [Speak or Listen].”
Through September and October, Lala stayed in Paris to show her work in an exhibition in the Marais, and work in another art residency. Here, she decided to create 3 different paintings on one canvas (each new painting covering the last). This concept aimed to push the artist to experiment and develop her style without the pressure of “the end result” looming over. “I took aspects from the first and second paintings that I liked, and integrated them into the third painting.
Title: Presenteeism, Artist: Lala Drona, Acrylic on canvas 100cm x 100cm Paris France, 2018
This method also gave me the freedom to try out new concepts in the first two draft paintings to know if I liked them enough to try them again in future paintings.” She finished with the piece “Presenteeism,” a painting which examines how social media contributes to the overwhelming pressure to be seen/present at all times. Lala plans to continue developing the geometric style found in this painting and further research the topic of how our digital lives on social media and the internet affect us IRL.
During the months of November and December, Lala will participate in another artist in residency program in Alentejo, Portugal. Here, she will continue research on her topic and create 2-3 painting to be shown in an exhibition in Portugal in December. “I’m going into my project in Portugal with an open mind. I’m waiting to be inspired by the moment. I will definitely continue researching the same topic, but I have no images in mind yet.”
As far as the rest of the year goes, Lala has plenty of projects lined up. We’ve heard rumours of Norway and New York, and have confirmed that she’ll have an exhibition in Lithuania this summer, and another in Finland in the fall. Get ready to see a lot of Lala Drona in 2019.
Jeff Southers, Columbus Ohio Journal of the Creative Arts
Lala Drona in her first ever public radio appearance on Beijing International Radio. Listen to her interview on Touch Beijing 93.2FM, where she explains what it means to be a visual artist today, and how Beijing has inspired her art. Stay tuned until the end where she reveals her plot for the future.
A new video performance video from Lala Drona’s series “La Minute Lala” has just been released. In her new video “Lalatina,” Lala Drona expresses her Latin American side.
Lala Drona’s mother is originally from Caracas, Venezuela. Her mother grew up in the project 23 de enero, a barrio infamous for it’s crime, slums and squatters: remnants of the 1958 coup d’etat which overthrew dictator Marquez Perez Jimenez.
23 de Enero, Caracas, Venezuela
“My mother’s experience growing up was not easy, but she has remained an optimist. Her stories are unbelievable, and the values transmitted through them, indispensable to me. These stories can only be described as dark magic realism.”
Lala Drona often integrates her mother’s experiences into her own in her writing and paintings. “Some of the lines in my videos, in my writing are inspired by her. She’s always there as an advisor on my paintings. She is such a big part of me, and I am truly lucky to have her.”
Lala Drona continues to work and live in Beijing, China on her current series, “Wrong Place, Wrong Time,” a series inspired by her experience in China and taking place in her artistic universe.
Lala Drona opens up for the first time about her experience since arriving in China in an exclusive interview with the L.D. Times. She comments on her new video, due to release next week: “The Blank Canvas.” A deep and inspiring article that delves into the artist’s psyche.
Click the image below to read the full 6-page spread.
Lala Drona has made her first artistic appearance since arriving in Beijing, but one could say she’s not quite all there. In her newest performance art video, Lala Drona sports a broken tooth. In typical “Lala” fashion, she gives no explanation to what happened, hoping that the art will be enough to satiate her followers. The peculiar thing is, this gaping smile isn’t all that unfamiliar. Lala Drona emerged broken-toothed in February 2013, just some four years ago right after she moved to Paris, France. Why Lala is sporting a look from four years ago is past us, and whether or not she sprouts the next fashion tooth-trend is up for debate.
But in all seriousness, it is quite strange that the last two times Lala has changed countries, she has emerged with a broken tooth. As the video mentions both Paris and Beijing, one can infer that Lala is not only talking about her dental fracture, but also the fracture that comes from leaving a country, and its people behind. She also states that she doesn’t have much time [before someone comes and repairs her.] In the performance, Lala expresses a desperation to explore her moment of “rupture,” before someone comes and “fills in the gap” so to speak.
We can all relate to this feeling of rupture, whether it be saying goodbye to someone, or moving on from a particular stage in our lives. Most of us try to push through it as quickly as possible. However, in her video performance, “La Rupture,” Lala asks us to pay attention to it, to live it and to appreciate it while it’s there. It could be where your rawest creativity exists.
At the end of 2012, Lala arrived in Paris in search of inspiration for her paintings and world creation. Along with inspiration, she also stumbled upon success, as gallery owners and collectors found her work groundbreaking. She felt like a star, but all things have an expiration date…
One cold day in February 2013, while on her way to an event, Lala took a violent fall on the subway station stairs in Paris. This painful welcome to Paris left her with a broken tooth and knocked unconscious. Her friends rushed her to an emergency hospital where dentists repaired her teeth by sealing the cracks and capping the lateral incisor. However, the trauma she suffered would have lasting effects far beyond this.
In the summer of 2016, Lala travelled from Paris to Sedona, Arizona and visited a medium.
The medium read the Death card, a card denoting change…the death of one thing and the beginning of another. Lala took the card quite literally, and rushed funeral arrangements, creating plans for her last tableaux, a funeral installation displaying her body in her coffin, breasts exposed, surrounded by flowers. Needless to say, Lala’s reaction was an overreaction, as she probably wasn’t really going to die, but still, Death wasn’t going to let her get off that easy.
In November 2016, while rehearsing her next performance piece “Phalanges revitalisation,” she felt a sharp pain around her nose and front teeth.
The pain was unbearable and her Drones took her to an emergency dentist. The dentist found that both of her incisors were “necrosées” (necrotized, dying). Lala underwent a “devitalisation,” a procedure where the dentist drilled holes into her teeth in order to kill the nerve and disinfect each tooth. The dentist then filled in her two teeth like mummified bodies. A literal Death, foreseen in the cards. After the three-week long procedure, Lala’s teeth felt back to normal again, but, Death’s influence had just begun. (text continued below).
Towards the end of 2016, due to too many failed art experiments, and Lala’s plunging media presence, investors in Paris pulled out from financially supporting Lala, leaving her with a large debt from which to recover. With the Lala Laboratory destroyed, and Drones scattered around the world, Lala’s artistic success seemed ill-fated. All her efforts were futile, and Lala at her lowest, went out to the bars in Paris, and danced another deadly dance with red wine and the Paris underground. In the tunnels of the Paris subway, she tripped on the stairs and fell again, hitting her head on the wall. The next morning, Lala woke up in the Paris subway with a jarring headache, and a beeping coming from her phone. Lala looked at her phone to find an email from a group of investors in Beijing, China. They were fascinated by her work and were inviting her to relocate her projects to their home country. A drastic change, presented itself. As foreseen in the cards, the beginning of one thing, and the death of another. Lala hastily accepted the project.
She is calling out to all Drones in Beijing, as her estimated time of arrival is mid-March, 2017. She will spread her Drone empire, rebuild the Lala Laboratory, and resume her art/Muse experiments.
It seems the Death card has closed its chapter on Paris. Lala’s accident on arrival in Paris caused her teeth to slowly die over the 4 years she has spent there. Now that her teeth have finally perished, so has her time in Paris. A promising future awaits, as Lala will soon begin her next chapter in Beijing, China.
Based on a fact.
Alisa McQueen, Art Tomorrow Weekly Magazine
A new video performance video from Lala Drona’s series “
Lala Drona’s mother is originally from Caracas, Venezuela. Her mother grew up in the project 23 de enero, a barrio infamous for it’s crime, slums and squatters: remnants of the 1958 coup d’etat which overthrew dictator Marquez Perez Jimenez.
Lala Drona has made her first artistic appearance since arriving in Beijing, but one could say she’s not quite all there. In her newest performance 
The peculiar thing is, this gaping smile isn’t all that unfamiliar. 
she doesn’t have much time [before someone comes and repairs her.] In the performance, Lala expresses a desperation to explore her moment of “rupture,” before someone comes and “fills in the gap” so to speak.
(text continued below).
Based On A Fact 
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