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.
Lala Drona continues her project on “The Female Frame” finishing the second painting in the triptych.
The project “Female Frame” is a response to the question “What would the world look like through female eyes?” She states: “While growing up, a lot of emphasis is placed on how girls look and present themselves to the world. Images of “the trophy wife,” an object used only to increase the status of the man next to her. The “instagram look,” where women are augmenting their bodies, both surgically and digitally, in exchange for audience approval in the form of likes and comments…”
Female Frame: The Stage, 2019, Acrylic on Canvas, 20cm x 20cm
“…When it comes to scrutiny, women’s bodies have always been open game. Open game to be commented on by passerbys on the street, to be ridiculed for how they dress or present themselves. This is why the stage is an appropriate setting for the next room represented in this project. Women are born into the role of entertainer to the masses; when they leave the home (private space) and go into public spaces, they are put on stage. And it’s once the entertainer is on stage that the public feels that they are permitted to comment on her, right? Because, after all, they wouldn’t go up there, on stage (into the public world) in front of everyone, if they didn’t want the attention, right?” This piece examines the societal role of “visual entertainment” placed on women when they occupy public spaces.
If you’d like to see more about the project “Female Frame” click here.
Examination of the image becomes vital in a period of history marked by the smartphone and its accessibility to image and video creation. Lala Drona inspires others to question the origins of our daily images through her research into topics concerning le regard (the gaze).
Female Frame, 2019, Acrylic on Canvas, 20cm x 20cm
During her appearance at the Bienvenu Art Fair at the Cité des Arts in Paris, journalist and video editor Mathieu Mieleszko followed Lala Drona to document the release of her painting “Female Frame.” In this video, Mieleszko delves into the artist’s intention behind the painting, and provides a link between her artistic universe and its real-world applications. His cinematographic style in this video is influenced by concepts behind the piece, mimicking le regard which follows behind the artist during the exhibition. The style critiques the traditional objectification of women depicted through the male gaze, as women in the video are not simply objects to be seen, but instead look back (appearances by: video artist Jamika Ajalon, and stained glass artist Alison Koehler).
Lala states that her present work on the female gaze examines “issues in the lack of diversity in the transmission of images and stories throughout history. Our images predominantly come from creators of the same profile (male, white, heterosexual). It’s not to say that these stories are not important, it’s to say that it’s time to share the stage. We want different stories, a broader understanding of the diverse human condition. And it’s time to bring commonly silenced voices to the forefront.”
Video still from Mieleszko’s film
Her painting “Female Frame” not only inspires others to question the profile of the person behind our images, but also the corporate and political entities. “We are bombarded with too many images today, in the form of Instagram, and other social networks. Advertisers and political campaigns are able to post images at the same level of importance as the images from our friends and community. The infinite scroll feature facilitates the mindless consumption of these images, and we are only beginning to see the negative effects of this.”
Lala Drona intends to create three paintings under the concept of “the female frame.”
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.
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.
Lala Drona was expected to perform at Paris Lit Up’s magazine release party last week. Instead, Drone Kesabe, an assistant to Lala Drona, was sent to stand in for Lala in her absence.
Once called to the stage, Drone Kesabe explained to the audience that Lala Drona had been held up during her art research. She stated that Lala Drona had been conducting art experiments to find the perfect colour, a color too strong for the human eye, a deadly color: “…Essentially a colour that kills” she said. Lala Drona and her team had some sort of breakthrough, and so she was unable to come to the event.
Drone Kesabe then began to read Lala’s poem to the audience in a low and airy voice:
(Creature of Habit)
These creatures look for the familiar in the unfamiliar. Tell me, why do you put on shoes? Only to walk with blind feet. You process a new place based on past processes. The past with its conquering mentality—in your mind—time cannibalizes itself, past taking present. Is there a reason you can only see back in time, but not forward? Creatures of habit, only see what they know, and this is how I come to you “th-th-th-th-th-th.”
Repetition, monotony, boredom, commitment, dedication, loyalty, rigor: you play me over and over, conjuring my face in every note of that song—the song that was playing when the Thing happened.
I’ll stay with you and tell you what to do, so the Thing doesn’t happen again, you think—
–And I let you know that your instincts are shit, listen to me, I was there, and I’ll keep you safe.
Creatures of habit, based on a fact, based on a television, based on a story…this only serves to take me with you—in your mind—.
Perched on your back making nests of knots in your shoulders, making my way to your belly—Let me stay here a bit while you recognize the pattern of that familiar ceiling in the walls of this unfamiliar venue. The same pattern of where the Thing happened, when you had no control, I came, that’s where we met the first time.
Watch the new patterns, registered by old ones, process, tilt you head back further, further, thaaat’s it. “th-th-th-th-th” stop breathing now because the past doesn’t breathe, and we never left that moment—in your mind—I’m here with you, when no one else will be. And I’ll never leave you, not if you keep looking…looking for our familiar in the unfamiliar. Creature of habit.
The launch party went off without a hitch while artists, poets and creative-types mixed and popped off celebratory champagne. As for the work Lala Drona is developing behind the scenes, our investigative journalists haven’t seemed to be able to get beyond Drone Kesabe’s statement at the PLU launch party.
Based on a Fact caught up with art trend expert Valerie Cogie who weighed in on the situation. “If we take a look at Lala Drona’s paintings, it’s quite obvious that she’s chosen to express through the grayscale. As stated in previous interviews, this was due to her reaction to traveling the world. She stopped seeing the world in binary oppositions: black/white, right/wrong… and started paying more attention to the in-betweens…the grays. Perhaps, she has reached a point where she wants to start incorporating colour into her painting universe. I’d rather not speculate further on the psychological implications of this.”
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.
What Lala Drona wrote had the tendency to come true. Fortunately (and unfortunately) for her, all the desires and dreams that she had written had already come true, and she was now living them. Lala lied alone in her bed and thought about how creation comes from a lack, and how a satiated writer isn’t much of a writer at all. Lala thought about what she wanted. What did she desire? Perhaps it was world domination, perhaps it was to get the art laboratory back in business. Whatever it was, it was in that moment that Lala realized she wanted nothing more than to be lying next to someone else.
The story of Muse Leira
In 18th century Portugal, in the small town of Messejana, Colonel Morgado died and left his estate to his four servants. His loyal and dedicated Muse, grew depressed from the lack of creative collaboration with the Colonel. Over the years that followed, the battle strategy notebooks and plans they created together disappeared, buried in dust. Muse Leira refused to occupy any other room after the Colonel’s death and condemned herself to those four walls for eternity.
Messejana, Portugal
It wasn’t until recently, three centuries later, that Leira had the opportunity to dust off her inspiration projectors and collaborate with artists visiting the Colonel’s room.
The last servant left alive in the house decided to move into the house next door and rent out the Morgado home. A young couple moved into the house with their baby, but made a point to stay out of the Colonel’s room at night, as recommended by the previous owner. Muse Leira haunted the room at all hours, but her image only appeared at night, when she had the power to touch the tenants of the room.
The couple converted the house into an art residency, inviting international artists from
Colonel Morgado’s room
around the world to visit and work on their projects.
Winnie was the first to stay in the Colonel’s room. She was an ink-landscape painter from China. The lights constantly switched on and off and the bulbs burned out. Winnie saw Muse Leira for the first time on the night of the new moon. She could not sleep and when she opened her eyes and rolled over, a head covered in a white cloth bag stared straight back at her. Needless to say, Winnie left the residency early.
Madeleine was the next to stay in the Colonel’s room. She was an abstract expressionist painter from France. She began work right away on the first day and filled the room with canvas and color. When she woke up the first morning, she saw that all of her t-shirts and pants had been thrown on the floor. But no matter, she submitted to the strong inspiration that boiled from within and jumped out of bed to continue painting.
Night fell and while working at her desk, Madeleine tipped over a bottle of varnish. She desperately looked for a cloth to absorb the liquid and took one that was handed to her. She dabbed the painting with no result, and looked down at the cloth to find it was one of her t-shirts from the floor. She looked to her side to see who handed it to her, and Muse Leira stood there, wearing all of Madeleine’s clothes and giggling. After a bit of an awkward meeting, Madeleine and Leira became good friends and collaborated easily for the remainder of her stay in the Colonel’s room.
After Madeleine left, the room grew cold again, the air stagnant without the flow of creative energy. A week went by and artist Lala Drona, an American painter living in Paris, moved into the Colonel’s room. On the first day, Lala rearranged the room to take advantage of the light coming in from the windows. Lala’s painting materials still hadn’t arrived and she felt herself growing weak from the lack of creation. She woke up in the middle of the night sick with a cold. The roosters crowed and the dogs barked outside, rattling the bed she slept in. Lala found the strength to approach the tissue box in front of the mirror on the other side of the room. She grabbed a tissue and while blowing her nose, she looked into the mirror to find the head covered in a cloth bag standing behind her. Lala would have screamed if she hadn’t lost her voice.
Muse Leira ran across the wall and knocked a trapped door open before hiding in the corner. Realizing Leira was a muse, and having had extensive experience with muses, Lala tried to calm her while tiptoeing towards the trapped door. Inside, Lala found old paintings on paper—portraits of the Colonel and his servants. Further inside, she found charcoal.
Lala started coughing and Muse Leira led her back to bed. Muse Leira brought over a board with paper and the charcoal and sat next to Lala. She set up the drawing board and Lala began sketching out ideas for paintings. She thought about what she wanted. She thought about the relationships she had had with the Drones (assistants in her former art laboratory), other artists and muses. Muse Leira reminded her that it is those relationships which make Lala human.
“We find our match in the digital masses”
“We give each other space to grow”
“We make each other human”
Over the next few days, Leira nursed Lala back to health. Leira inspired Lala, and Lala grew stronger with every collaboration. Lala’s painting supplies finally arrived, and thanks to Muse Leira, she is now off to a strong beginning.
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
moved into the Colonel’s room. On the first day, Lala rearranged the room to take advantage of the light coming in from the windows. Lala’s painting materials still hadn’t arrived and she felt herself growing weak from the lack of creation. She woke up in the middle of the night sick with a cold. The roosters crowed and the dogs barked outside, rattling the bed she slept in. Lala found the strength to approach the tissue box in front of the mirror on the other side of the room. She grabbed a tissue and while blowing her nose, she looked into the mirror to find the head covered in a cloth bag standing behind her. Lala would have screamed if she hadn’t lost her voice.
Based On A Fact 
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