RECAP 2014

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…

See news updates on The Lala World here.

Based on a Fact RECAP 2014

Reporting on Lala Drona Exhibition 2014

The exhibition “FROM THE BED TO THE LAB” covered by journalist Karim Mouici.

Lala makes a buck off a blast from the past

Lala Drona reported that while in Colorado she would not be participating in any gallery showings of her work.  However, Drones were both pleasantly surprised and disappointed to see a spontaneous private show…in the form of

a garage sale.

In front of what we believe to be her family home, passer-byes found a blast from the past.  Lala exhibited works which she described as B.L., or Before Lala (works she did as a kid). Here she exhibited her first ever acrylic painting The Ant, completed at the age of fourteen years old.

Lala’s work displayed on the driveway.

Other works included drawings from her first ever series of portraits which she completed at the age of fifteen.  The idea for the series was quite simple, as it was the first time Lala blended text with visual art. (Examples below.)

“The Ant,” Lala’s first acrylic painting.

 

It seems critics have very mixed reviews, some applauding the artist’s humility in displaying her art in front of her home and revisiting her pre-Lala years.  Others have commented that the display is yet another insult to galleries which display and sell Lala’s pieces, that she is giving the finger to the elitist types that buy her art at extravagant prices.  Whether one story is truer than the other, one thing is certain.  Through this display, she has given us a more complete picture of her development as an artist, and in turn, more puzzle pieces to discover who Lala Drona is.

Based on a Fact

Demi Gallegos, 55 Homemaker

Lala’s Dark Past: Vegan Supersize Me Challenge

Scandal!  Photos of Lala emerge after a Vegan Supersize Me Challenge she participated in four years ago.

As fans already know, Lala started dedicating her life to avoiding fleshy food at 15 years old.  Since then, she has dabbled in veganism, and even attended the above vegan challenge.  The challenge took place in Viña del Mar, Chile where the artist was exiled for one year.  The rules of this challenge are simple.  You have a group of individuals and everyday for one week, you have to eat vegan.  But here’s the catch:  Every time someone finds something on a menu that is vegan, he/she can make another eat it.  If one denies food, he/she is out of the running.  Therefore, teams spend the year preparing, finding all vegan-option restaurants in the area in order to conveniently pass by with competitors.

Apparently, Lala lost this challenge.  She did not even make it to the top ten.  Rumors have it, the artist has fallen off the wagon since these pictures were released, too depressed to eat anything resembling a vegetable.  When reporters asked about her vegan or veggie status earlier this week, she responded, “Let’s just say I’m a good vegetarian, but a really bad vegan, okay?!”

Still no Lala to be seen, but rumors have it she is back in Paris, and has actually locked herself into her house since the release of the photos.  Others think she is working on a new series, and that is why she refuses to leave.  Based on a Fact will keep you posted on Lala’s endeavours.

Based on a Fact, Laura Johns, Connecticut Institute for the Blind

Lala Painting Porn at the Park

Lala look-alikes have been reported all over Europe since Lala’s disappearance last July.  Many say she simply went French and took the entire month of August off.  However, once photos surfaced of Lala in Berlin, Germany, Based on a Fact booked a flight to catch up with the artist.

Based on a Fact met with Lala in a Berlin park where she was painting a new, rather risqué art piece, inspired by a graphic novel by Manara.  When asked about her abrupt decision to travel to Berlin, Lala replied,  “I felt like I needed to get away from Paris and all its Disneyland-like wonder.  Leave the dream and lick the floor, if you know what I mean.”

Graffiti Paparazzi, Berlin

Lala gave Based on a Fact a personal tour of the city where she explained some of her favorite pieces.

ROA, Berlin

ROA, a Belgian street artist was among a few.  Lala explained that ROA travels to cities around the world and depicts the animals that are indigenous to that immediate region.

Based on a Fact was pleased to be invited to a stencil workshop with Lala where she and fellow street artists

discussed techniques from stencil making to graffiti/building repelling.  “I came to learn, to exchange ideas with other artists.  Berlin is a city in motion, always changing.  It feels like anything is possible here.  It’s electric and real.  Like the slogan says, poor, but sexy.”

Word still not out on Lala’s next move.  The artist seems to have fallen in love with the underground city.  Will she return to Paris?  Based on a fact will keep you updated as we await Lala’s decision between wine and beer.

Terra Feldman, Los Angeles for Based on a Fact

Lala’s Surprise Goodbye

            Late, on the night of July 13^th,  Based on a Fact received an online invitation to Lala’s surprise goodbye party.  Apparently, Lala sent the invitations to all the guests at 10pm the same night of the event.  The party was at the local fire station in the 94.  When firefighters were approached with the artist’s decision, they wanted to help.  “We thought, why not have the party at the station?  Where we keep the trucks.  It would be perfect,” stated Antoin Faubert a local fireman.

Many were there to celebrate with Lala, however due to the late notice; some guests were not able to attend, possibly burning a few bridges between Lala and Paris.  Rumors say that some think Lala has gone too Diva.  Expecting everyone to drop their arrangements for hers. Others say it was a surprise party, so it’s cool.

But the real question is why is Lala leaving?  And for how long?  Has bad media coverage finally gotten to her?  Some deeper cutting rumors ask if the artist is retiring.  Perhaps Lala couldn’t cut it in the art world?

Lala dancing to song “I am whatever you say I am.”

Based on a fact will have updates before Lala’s sudden departure.

Update: Lala Stays

Lala spotted waiting for the train in central Paris.

Sources reveal that Lala Drona has officially extended her visa in order to stay in France.  A close friend of Lala’s, one who wishes to remain unnamed, tells Based on a Fact about the artist’s plans.  “This doesn’t mean she’s going to stay in Paris, just that now she has the option of staying.”

Rumors about the artist’s financial situation say that Lala couldn’t leave even if she wanted to.  Lala is even said to have picked up a second job teaching English as a Second language around Paris.  Others have spotted her hauling around large canvases of her work hoping to liaise with local galleries.  Hopefully Lala continues to be “all-business” and stays out of trouble.

We’ll keep you updated on what happens next.

Based on a Fact

 

LEAKED: Lala, cheerleader gone bad.

Hot off the presses, Lala’s dark past reveals itself to be a little bit brighter than described by the sought-after artist.  Based on a Fact has just received information that may undermine her rebel tortured artist image.  Photos have emerged from Lala’s childhood activities, displaying young Drona participating in gymnastics, dance, martial arts, and bird watching amongst many other pastimes.  However, the most unexpected of all, the one thing that could possibly demolish the artist’s career is that Lala Drona was a cheerleader.

Based on a Fact caught up with the artist for a quote and she denied all allegations.  However, Lala has recently created an after-school program which brings elementary school children across all social cliques together.  It is called CWSB (cheerleaders without social borders).    “We live in another time.  Social cliques are starting as young as 7 years old these days,” Samuel Feranda, Lala’s PR manager says.  “Now the cheerleaders can hang out with the freaks, the artists.  They can even be artists themselves.”  Lala has decided to use her holiday to travel to American schools and implement this program in order to sprout social change where it is needed most.

Based on a Fact finds it suspicious that Lala denied these allegations and then immediately created CWSB.  Some sources infer that Lala is doing this out of guilt, while other die-hard fans could care less.  One fan, who chooses to remain anonymous, states, “It doesn’t matter what Lala did, just that it lead her to be the artist she is today.”  Based on a Fact would have to agree.

Based on a Fact

First showing since art rehab! Success!

Lala Drona before opening.

At the base of Montmartre, Lala stands with the smokers and chills out after a successful art opening.  The night is calm, and the air chill enough to lure art enthusiasts into the small bar where Lala has presented her work for the first time since released from art rehab.  Samantha Bait, a well-known Parisian art appreciator commented on the exhibition.  “The story (behind the paintings) becomes more emotional and full of life as Lala Drona explains her work… I expect to see more paintings, a way to discover her.” Many others were also surprised by how personal the content was.  Abstract realism, women’s bodies, and no heads.  One, a self-portrait of the artist, a story about her medical history.  The colors illuminated the bar and impacted many of its onlookers.   

Based on a Fact had a moment to catch up with the artist and asked her why she chose such a personal subject matter.  She responded, “I’m an artist, so everything I’ve experienced is sort of on blast for the rest of the world.  What is art but another way of telling stories?  And who wants a half-finished story?  It’s like, sorry readers, but the author was too chicken to write the whole story, so you might not understand it with its missing pieces.  I think I’ve told every embarrassing or frightening story I’ve ever had in my paintings.  Or at least, that’s one of my goals.”

Although the last metro had ended, many stayed at the bar, sharing, talking and drinking.  “I had a great time.  Lala surely knows how to turn a bar into a place full of emotions with her beautiful paintings.  I’ll surely keep an eye on this artist,” said Amine B., CEO of Mazian.

Based on a Fact would like to thank everyone for participating in this special showing of Lala’s work.  For those who would like another chance to speak to the artist about her work, there will be a small showing Thursday May 30^th at the Botak Café.

Botak Café

Based on a Fact

Out of Rehab and Out of Cash

After Lala’s last few run-ins with the local 94 police, she admitted herself into Le Tableau Vierge, a rehabilitation center located in the outskirts of Paris.  The orderlies commented on Lala’s participation, saying she was “surprisingly well-behaved,” and “actually quite a pleasure to have, despite the image painted by the media.” 

Rumors stir about financial struggle after Lala’s accident last February (medical bills) and other negative media hits.  No well-respected galleries are accepting the young rock-and-roll-image artist.  Many wonder if  this is why Lala is exhibiting her work at a small local café in Montmatre this month.  The LD Times theorizes that perhaps the young artist feels as if she has sold out in Paris, and is taking control of how her work is exhibited, something that has been impossible thus far in her career with established galleries.

Either way, it looks like Lala Drona might need some help.  This is why Based on a Fact will be accepting donations to help Lala stay in Paris and to help her continue with her art.  Keep art alive, and keep Based on a Fact up and running.  Anything helps!   

Based on a fact.