Method & Materials.
An intersection of past, present and nature.
Lauren O’Sullivan’s practice explores the convergence of earth, memory and emotion through material-led abstraction.
Working with earth pigments, clay, terracotta, basalt, stone, plant dyes and natural and synthetic binders, she develops her own materials through a process of gathering, grinding, mixing, layering and erosion.
These materials are not simply tools for making an image. They carry their own histories, textures and traces of place, becoming part of the physical language of each work.
Plant, Land and Sea.
The work begins with the elemental materials of the world around us: earth, water, stone and plant.
From the land, Lauren works with ochres, terracotta, clay, basalt and stone. Ground and transformed into pigment, these materials carry traces of geological time, weathering and change.
From the sea come salts, sediments and the residue of tidal movement. These materials introduce processes of dissolution, accumulation and release.
From the plant world, she works with natural dyes, oils and resins, including olive oil, linseed oil and honey. Alongside traditional and synthetic pigments, these materials create variations in colour, texture and surface.
Through this process of gathering, grinding and combining, raw materials become something new. Their origins remain present within the surface, creating a dialogue between matter, memory and transformation.
From Formless to Form
The process is intuitive but materially rigorous.
Layers are built, disrupted, eroded and rebuilt. Materials are allowed to crack, settle, absorb and reveal themselves, creating surfaces that cannot be entirely predetermined.
This process reflects an underlying interest in how the intangible becomes physical—how memory, emotion and lived experience can move from an internal state into something tangible.
The resulting paintings occupy a space between the elemental and the personal: earth becoming surface, memory becoming material, and the formless becoming form.
